Mynsngat,Thangsko, EJH, Feb 8: It was not like the figurative biblical pillar/column of clouds during the day and fire at night, which had a positive meaning, but in the secular reality, fire and smoke rose from the affected two coal mines here, reaching to the sky, to the shock of the adjacent miners.
At the site, explosions muffled the cries of the camp dwellers, who are either relatives or friends of the miners, who went down to the mines around 5 am on February 5.
“We have never witnessed fire and smoke rising from around 100-150 feet below, said a miner from the nearby area, who was present here at the blast site on February 7 when this reporter visited.
He and his friend came to the blast site looking for three miners, who are their friends.
“We saw the fire when we looked up from a distance, unable to understand what was happening, only to realise that something was wrong. It must be around 7 am”, said the miner originally from Nepal.
As reported earlier, the fire originated from a third mine, ploughing through the second and the third.
From the second mine, only four bodies were recovered, as the remaining bodies were taken out from the first mine, where the rescue and search operations are continuing.
Dynamite & its use
The miner said more wicks were put in the dynamites, leading to the impact.
According to him, only one wick was put on the dynamite in the past, reducing the impact.
Sources said the use of dynamites is a recent phenomenon in East Jaintia Hills for the speedy removal of coal from the mines, unlike the initial manual extraction carried on for centuries.
The move was after the Meghalaya government wanted scientific mining of coal.
Dynamite & Nobel Prize
Who discovered dynamite is known to all.
The Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel(1833-1896) is the inventor of dynamite, which was used for blasting to facilitate mining, heavy construction, including railways, and tunnels. The dynamite was also used for infrastructure development.
He discovered the dynamite in 1866 and patented it in 1867, but regretted its misuse
The rampant negative use of dynamite resulted in large-scale destruction, leading to Nobel Prizes for peace in the name of Nobel.
The misuse was such that the nitroglycerin used in the dynamite turned out to be dangerous.
Picture: The blast site at Mynsngat, Thangsko(MM)
