Man held in Meghalaya mine mishap admits he is the owner, say police

Shillong: The man, who was arrested in connection with the mine mishap in Meghalaya's East Jaintia Hills district a fortnight ago, has admitted that he was the owner of the 370-foot-deep illegal quarry, police said on Sunday.

Fifteen miners were trapped in the "rat-hole" mine on December 13 after water from nearby Lytein river gushed into it. All efforts to trace the labourers have turned futile as the water level in the mine showed no signs of receding in the past 11 days.

Krip Chullet, who was arrested on December 14, admitted during interrogation that the mine in Lumthari village of Khliehriat area -- around 80 km from Shillong -- belonged to him, Superintendent of Police Sylvester Nongtynger told PTI.

Two mine managers, Mohesh and James Sukhlain, are still on the run, he said.

Sukhlain facilitates mine operations, while Mohesh is the person responsible for bringing labourers from West Garo Hills district and Assam, the SP said.

Earlier, the police had said Chullet was involved in hiring labourers and sending them down the shaft.

Around 20 miners had entered the 370-foot mine on December 13. After reaching the bottom of the pit, they entered the horizontal tunnels, often termed "rat-holes", as each just about fits one person.

According to local people, one of the diggers could have accidentally punctured the walls of the cave, following which the river water gushed into it. Five people were able to climb out of the flooded mine, leaving the others behind.

Seven of the 15 trapped labourers hail from West Garo Hills district, five from Assam and three from the remote Lumthari village, where the accident took place, the SP said.

The state government had on Saturday announced an interim relief of Rs 1 lakh each to the families of the 15 miners and sought high-power submersible pumps from Coal India Ltd to flush out the water and rescue them.

Over 100 personnel of the national and state disaster response forces, along with the police, have been waiting for the water level to subside to begin the rescue work.

Mining expert Jaswant Singh Gill, who arrived at the site two days ago, has made recommendations to the state to hasten the operation, NDRF Assistant commandant S K Singh said.