Shillong, December 30: The rescue operations team involved in Meghalaya are fighting a mighty enemy in an attempt to save the 15 men who have been trapped inside a coal mine since December 13. The rescue efforts entered its 16th day but still there is no sign or major breakthrough in trying to reach the men trapped in the mine pit after it got flooded with water from the nearby Lytein river. What Is Rat-Hole Mining? 15 Meghalaya Miners Trapped in Illegal Mine Waits for Help From Government.

High-powered pumps are being used to drain out the water from the mine so as to reach the miners. Reportedly, the biggest obstacle the authorities are facing are a lack of “mining map or blue print” with the district authorities, reported The Indian Express.

Divers from the Navy and the NDRF went inside the flooded Meghalaya mine on Saturday to conduct a recce and measure the level of accumulated water as part of the rescue operation of the 15 trapped miners.

The water level is estimated to be more than 77-80 feet in the vertical shaft of the rat-hole coal mine in East Jaintia Hills district, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) Assistant Commandant Santosh Kumar Singh told PTI.

The Air Force on Friday airlifted a National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team along with equipment from Bhubaneswar to Guwahati for the rescue operation being undertaken by the Meghalaya government to free the miners trapped in a coal mine.

According to Defence Ministry spokesperson Col Aman Anand, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is keeping a close watch on the operation in case any help is needed.

He said the Defence Minister got a call from the Meghalaya government on Thursday requesting assistance from the ministry in the rescue operation. Following the request, two aircraft – C 130 and AN 32 – of the Eastern Air Command were kept on standby, said Col Anand.

However, as operation to rescue 15 trapped miners continue at the 370-foot-deep illegal coal mine in East Jaintia Hills district, a survivor of the December 13 accident said Saturday there is no way the trapped miners will come out alive. Sahib Ali, hailing from Assam’s Chirang district, is one of the five men who narrowly escaped the flooding coal mine a fortnight ago. (With Agency Inputs)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 30, 2018 12:10 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).