The Supreme Court has sought to know from the relatives of miners, who were trapped in an illegal mine in Meghalaya three months ago, whether they wanted to recover the bodies which might have been "decomposed" by now.
15 miners were trapped on December 13 last year in an illegal coal mine at Ksan in East Jaintia Hills district of Meghalaya, about 3.7 km deep inside a forest, when water from the nearby Lytein river gushed into it.
Only two bodies have been recovered from the mine so far.
The top court is hearing a plea which had sought urgent steps for rescuing the miners trapped in the rat-hole mine.
A bench of Justices S A Bobde and S K Kaul told the petitioner to ask the family members of the trapped miners as to whether they want to get the bodies recovered.
"The petitioner is directed to ascertain from the relatives of the deceased if they wish to have the bodies recovered having regard to the fact that they may be already in a completely decomposed condition," the bench said in its order.
The top court also directed Dr Sudhir Kumar, Hydrologist of Roorkee's National Institute of Hydrologist to visit the site and after re-appraisal, submit a report pointing out if pumping of water being done there for de-watering is adequate.