- India's top court has instructed the state government of
Meghalaya to rescue the miners as soon as possible as 'every minute counts'. - The Indian Supreme Court has also directed the state government that the miners have to be rescued, regardless of whether they're dead of alive.
- 15 labourers have been stuck in a ‘rat hole’ mine in India for nearly a month despite multi-agency efforts to rescue them.
The judges stated, “Every minute counts”. They added, “No matter whether they are all dead, not dead or all alive — they should be taken out.”
Expressing their dissatisfaction, they questioned the state government as to why the army hadn’t been asked to join to rescue operations. The government justified that they already had firefighters from Odisha, the
The court appropriately retorted, “Then, why were they not successful?”
Getting the Supreme Court's attention
After nearly a month of being trapped in a 320 feet deep mine in the eastern Indian state of Meghalaya, the country’s Supreme Court $4 that was seeking to increase the rescue efforts underway on Wednesday.
The PIL filed by Aditya N Prasad, an Indian lawyer, was seeking adequate manpower as well as equipment to rescue the miners. The plea also included preparing a ‘Standard Operation Procedure’ (SOP) by the central government for how rescue operations should be implemented when it comes to mining rescue operations.
Last week, search operations were been suspended altogether for the 15 miners that have trapped at the end of a ‘rat-hole’ after nearly a fortnight of searching.
Right before the New Year, the Indian Navy and the Odisha Fire Service were also pulled in to help with the rescue efforts alongside the
The probability of finding survivors is thin considering the amount time that has lapsed, but rescuers assert that there is hope in case the miners were able to find an air pocket underground.
Here’s a look at the rescue efforts underway: