‘15 trapped miners gasp for air...’: Rahul Gandhi takes a shot at PM Modi

The miners were trapped after water from the nearby Lytein river gushed into the horizontal manholes, often termed as ‘rat-holes’, at Ksan area in Lumthari village.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help the 15 miners trapped in a 370-foot-deep illegal coal mine in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills district after rescue operations were stopped.

In Meghalaya, operation to rescue 15 trapped miners is hampered by lack of equipment. (Twitter/Scroll.in)

In a tweet, Rahul Gandhi also attacked Prime Minister Modi for getting his pictures clicked while inaugurating the Bogibeel railroad bridge in Assam.

“15 miners have been struggling for air in a flooded coal mine for two weeks. Meanwhile, PM struts about on Bogibeel Bridge posing for cameras. His government refuses to organise high pressure pumps for the rescue. PM please save the miners,” Gandhi tweeted on Wednesday.

The miners were trapped after water from the nearby Lytein river gushed into the horizontal manholes, often termed as ‘rat-holes’, at Ksan area in Lumthari village.

The National Disaster Response Force’s 1st Battalion, which has been on the spot since December 13, the day of the accident, has pumped out 20 lakh litres of water from the mine but the water level has not receded because of high water level in river Lytein.

The district administration has sought higher capacity water pumps from Coal India as suggested by a mining engineer from Punjab. Even as the administration stopped pumping since the two 25 HP pumps were proving inadequate, deputy commissioner FM Dopth said he has sent a proposal to the state government to procure 10 pumps of 100 HP each from Coal India.