MEGHALAYA MINE ACCIDENT

(2018)

By,
M Vaman Nayak
Roll no: 15623815MN17
Department of Mining Engineering,
NITK
FIG1: SITE OF ACCIDENT , SOURCE: NDTV REPORTS
 LITTLE BACKGROUND INFO

• In 2014, National Green Tribunal (NGT), had

banned the “rat hole” in the North Eastern
Indian State of Meghalaya.
• After handful of PILs filed, the Honourable
Supreme Court and the NGT permit
transportation of coal mined out before the
ban.
 RAT HOLE MINING

• The mining is done by digging small holes into the ground,

much like the holes dug by rats.
• The technique involves digging of small tunnels which are just
over three-four feet high, in order to extract coal.
• Miners break the rocks with axes and other hand-held
equipment and carry out the material in baskets or buckets.
• This form of illegal mining has significantly impacted the
environment of the North East India and has resulted in water
polluted by the waste from the mining and the death of fish
and animals.
WHAT HAPPENED AND DATA ON
SAFETY OF INDIAN MINERS

Fig2: How accident happened

 WHAT HAPPENED ON THAT
UNFORTUNATE DAY

• On that black Thursday of December 13, 2018, over

two dozen miners got trapped inside an illegal mine in
Ksan, East Jaintia Hills district after water from the
nearby Lytein river gushed into it.
• Reports quoting villagers indicate that one of the
diggers might have accidentally punctured the walls of
the cave, letting the water rush in and trap the miners
inside.
 HOW DID THE ILLEGAL MINING
GO UNDETECTED ?

• The coal mine owners of Meghalaya enjoy the backing of top

politicians in the state, say reports.
• According to a Citizens' Report prepared by civil society
groups, many politicians, four ministers in the present
government and seven opposition legislators are either coal
barons or their families have business interests in mining.
• The fact is that Meghalaya and some other Northeastern
states have been known to engage in illegal mining for decades.
Everyone just looked the other way. Even the Government of
India, in its statements before the Lok Sabha, blithely stated
that no reports of illegal mining in Meghalaya.
SOURCE: NDTV AND MONEYCONTROL.COM REPORTS
 RESCUE OPERATIONS AND TIME
LINE
• On 13th of Dec, 2018 , State and National Disaster releif forces started
searching for the trapped miners.
• Over 100 NDRF and SDRF personnel were engaged in the rescue
operations during 20th Dec, Mining expert and award-winning rescuer
Jaswant Singh Gill visited the spot and suggested that the state government
should seek the help of Coal India in the rescue operation. Gill, who shot
to fame after he successfully rescued 64 miners from a flooded quarry in
West Bengal in 1989.
• On 30th Dec, A team of six Indian Navy divers went down the main shaft
of the mine, but could not reach its bottom and Coal India also dispatched
eight high powered pumps with estimated delivery within 2 to 3 days.
Kirloskar Brothers Ltd’s 10 pumps are already on the site.
• Five new teams of experts, including those from National Geophysical
Research Institute, Hyderabad, National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee
and a team from Chennai to operate remote-operated underwater vehicles,
reached the spot to assist in the rescue operation.
 TIME LINE (CONTD…..)

• More than one month after the rescue operation began, the Indian Navy
detects a body at the illegal mine on 17th Januaray, 2019.
• Hilly terrain and geology of the are, made the rescue operations at least
100 times more difficult.
• Continuous water inflow from the Lytein river and heavy rainfall were
couple of the main reasons, whch acted as spoilsports.
• The mine has Acid Mine Drainage (AMD), which caused the corpus of the
trapped miners to disintegrate when the UAV tried to bring it to surface.
• After 2 months now, corpuses of 3 miners have been found and rest are
still missing (probably not alive) and for the information of those miners
rescue operations are still on.
 ROOT CAUSE AND SOLUTIONS

• State of Meghalaya, comes under the 6th Schedule (which was done to protect tribal
rights), so the mine owners argue that National Mining Laws are exempted for
Meghalaya.
Soln: By, diluting the 6th schedule.
• Bankrupt and debt ridden farmers, who’re affected by ill fate and bad climate,
volunteer to work for these unsafe mines at very cheap labour.
Soln: By addressing farm distress.
• Lack of political will power
Soln: Ppl of Meghalaya have to perform their of duty of voting correctly
• Ban on mining activities
Soln: Honourable Supreme Court must lift the ban and encourage regulated safe
mining, because coal mining provides employment to local, gives power to country and
also generates fat revenue for the State and Country.
 REFERENCES

• Reports from various media houses like NDTV, Indian Express,

moneycontrol.com.
• Wikipedia page on MEGHALAYA MINE ACCIDNET, 2018 (as of 06-03-
2019)
 THANK YOU

SOURCE: NDTV AND MONEYCONTROL.COM REPORTS