Supreme Court asks Centre, Assam govt to continue efforts to rescue trapped miners in Meghalaya

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre and Assam government to continue their efforts to rescue miners who have been trapped for more than a month in an illegal coal mine in Meghalaya's East Jaintia Hills district.

A bench headed by Justice AK Sikri posted the matter for next hearing on February 4.

 The apex court was hearing a PIL filed seeking to rescue the trapped miners.

Navy divers on Saturday recovered a second body from the flooded rat-hole coal mine in Meghalaya where a group of miners were trapped since December 13 last year.

According to the Navy officials, the second body was detected 280 feet inside the mine in the state's East Jaintia Hills by its diving team.

On Friday, one body was recovered from the mine at Ksan near Lytein River in East Jaintia Hills.

A total of 15 miners were trapped in the illegal mine in Lumthari village since December 13 last year, when water from the nearby Lytein river flooded the mine. Since then, a multi-agency rescue operation has been underway to evacuate the miners.

-ANI