Divers pull out; fate of 37 miners unknown

The BCCL control room said that the divers had left Dhanbad, but refused to give details.

The divers, after emerging at 11.30 pm from the adjacent Jairampur pithead last night had been gheraoed by angry relatives demanding "body nahi milega to aap ko bhi jane na milega" (if we don’t get the bodies, we will also not let you go)." They were allowed to go only after the police after the police intervened.

Earlier in the day the control room said, "not a single body was retrieved by the divers nor did they come across anything during last night’s mission."

Deputy director general, Directorate General of Mine Safety, A K Rudra who was responsible for coordinating with the divers, said "their expertise is in the ocean, going down a flooded mine is not their field."

Rudra said, the divers were hampered by the fact that they could explore only upto 120 metres, the length of their lifelines and only two could dive, while the others could only provide assistance, during their four missions.

"They checked out four airpockets, which we had calculated should exist from our plans (maps), but they did not find anything."

Control room sources said approximately 17 million gallons had been drained out till 4.00 pm by 10 pumps, four on the Jairampur side and six on the Bagdihi side, while another was being relocated.

"Water is still entering from the Jairampur side and from somewhere underneath, therefore there is still five to six million gallons remaining inside the mine," the sources said.

With the water receding a side discharge loader or a coal cutting machine had "become visible at the third level," they said.

Several general managers of BCCL, rescue teams and surveyors were inside dewatered areas. The surveyors were rectifying maps, as bore holes drilled so far had not yielded any result. Drilling operations to make a bore hole was stopped at 3.30 pm after reaching a depth of 15 metre, the sources said.

Meanwhile, in an ironic twist, the name of A K Upadhaya, assistant colliery manager trapped underground figured among the five charged inter alia for attempt to murder in an FIR by the police against the BCCL for the disastrous inundation.

General Manager, Lodna area, V S Srivastava, Project Officer A K Sengupta, a senior overman and a mining sardar were the others named in the FIR, lodged yesterday, Superintendent of Police, Dhanbad, Abdul Gani Mir said.

The officer in-charge of the Directorate General of Mine Safety has also been named by the complainant, Raj Deo Singh, in-charge of Lodna police outpost, Mir said.