"A Search and Rescue team, comprising personnel from TNI (Indonesian Military), Polri (Indonesian Police), Basarnas (National Search and Rescue Agency) and BPBD (Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency), as well as local residents, is trying to drain the pit," Head of the Jambi Provincial Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) Arief Munandar said here on Wednesday.
Arief noted the SAR team had attempted to drain the mud pit using six water pumps, but were unsuccessful.
"The 11 people buried in the pit still cannot be evacuated. The water still fills the pit. Earlier, we used four water pumps and today we used two more water pumps to drain it," he said.
Since the 11 miners were found to have been trapped on Monday, the SAR team has worked around-the-clock to rescue them by draining the pit, he said.
"There might be a water flow inside the pit. But we dont know it. Also, the victims have not yet been heard from," he said.
The illegal gold miners were trapped while digging a 30-50-meter deep pit.
It is believed they found an old pit full of water while digging the new pit. The water and mud later flowed into the new pit, leaving them trapped in the pit.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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