Three helmets were  found on Saturday morning from the site of the coal mine accident in Meghalaya's East Jaintia Hills district where 15  diggers are believed to be trapped for more than a fortnight.

The miners are stranded in a 370-feet deep banned mine in Lumthari village in the district since December 13, when water from the close by River Lytein flooded the mine.

 According to ANI  Assistant Commandant Santosh Kumar Singh from the 1st Battalion of NDRF stated "Three helmets have been recovered."

Worth mention here earlier, the search operations had been  cancelled by the Meghalaya government as high-pressure pumps to assist in the rescue were not available with the state government. After the state government urge for high-pressure pumps to drain out the water, a 15-member diving team of the Indian Navy from Vishakhapatnam left for Meghalaya on Friday with specialized equipment, including high-pressure pumps.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has also offered two aircraft to the Meghalaya government for airlifting specialist human resources of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) from Odisha for helping in the rescue operations. The Defence Ministry has said it is prepared to provide any help to the state government.

The IAF, Coal India Limited (CIL) and top pump manufacturing company Kirloskar Brothers' Limited had also joined the rescue effort 2 days before.