On the 15th day of the search for the fifteen men trapped in a rat-hole coal mine in Meghalaya the Indian Air Force have joined the rescue efforts.
The Air force Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules plane airlifted heavy equipment of the Odisha Fire Service including high power pumps to Guwahati from where it will be transported via road to Meghalaya's East Jaintia Hills.
The high-power pumps will be used to drain maximum water from the flooded mine in place of the 25-hp pump sets the NDRF had been using for nearly two weeks.
It had proven ineffective to draw water from a depth of 70 feet.
Odisha Fire Services, at the requerat of the Union Home Ministry has also despatched a team of 21 experts for the search and rescue mission.??
Meanwhile, two teams from Kirloskar Brothers, which has volunteered to provide equipment to drain out water from the rat-hole coal mine have also reached the spot.
More sophisticated equipments from Coal India the world's largest coal miner with expertise in operating heavy pumps are also on their way to East Jaintia Hills.
These powerful pumps are being transported from Asansol in West Bengal and Dhanbad in Jharkhand by road.
Though, the arrival of experts and more equipments will speed up the operations, there is an increasing concern about it being too late.
The NDRF divers who had entered the waters had reported foul smell emitting from the cave, suggesting that the trapped men might have already died and their bodies have started decomposing.
The 15 men have been trapped inside an illegal coal mine since December 13 after it got flooded.