Efforts to rescue trapped miners

Rescuers have retrieved the body of one miner from a flooded coal mine in eastern India, but are still hoping to save about 30 others still trapped inside.

"Water is receding and by this afternoon, it would be easier for the rescue team to enter the mine pit," Ramanuj Prasad, of the Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL), told Reuters.

Sixty-five miners were rescued on Friday when water poured through a breached coal seam into the Bagdih mine from a neighbouring flooded pit.

But more than 30 others were trapped inside the state-owned mine near Dhanbad, the main town in the mineral-rich state of Jharkhand.

Hopeful

One senior official leading the rescue operation said he had not given up hope of finding some of the trapped miners alive, as not all of them had been working at the lowest level when the breach occurred.

Indian navy divers had retrieved the body of one miner so far, but rescuers were pressing on with the operation undeterred, officials said.

Mr Prasad said seven pumps had been installed to pump out water from the mine, and added that more naval divers were expected to reach Dhanbad later on Monday.

Despite the assurances, scores of angry relatives and friends of miners scuffled with officials near the mine but no-one was hurt.

The region, which has the largest coal deposits in India, has witnessed several mining accidents.

In 1995 more than 70 miners died in a mining accident following heavy rains.

The worst disaster took place in the 1975, when nearly 400 miners were killed in a mine collapse.