India's capsule coal mine rescue

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 13 November 2024

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On 13 November 1989, mining engineer Jaswant Singh Gill saved 65 miners from the Mahabir Coal Mine, in India.

The miners, who had been trapped for three days after a flood, were winched out one by one using a tiny, steel capsule.

Rachel Naylor speaks to Jaswant's son, Sarpreet Singh Gill.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.

(Photo: Jaswant Singh Gill, next to the capsule. Credit: Sarpreet Singh Gill)

Transcript

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0:00.0	You are about to listen to a BBC podcast and I'd like to tell you a bit about what goes into making one.
0:06.5	I'm Sadata Sese, an assistant commissioner of podcasts for BBC Sounds.
0:11.1	I pull a lot of levers to support a diverse range of podcasts on all sorts of subjects,
0:16.0	relationships, identity, comedy, even one that mixes poetry, music and inner city life.
0:22.4	So one day I'll be helping host develop their ideas, the next fact-checking, a feature,
0:28.3	and the next looking at how a podcast connects with its audience.
0:32.3	And maybe that's you.
0:33.6	So if you like this podcast, check out some others on BBC Sounds.
0:42.0	Music So if you like this podcast, check out some others on BBC Sounds. You're listening to the Witness History podcast from the BBC World Service with me, Rachel Naylor.
0:47.6	I'm taking you back 35 years to a dramatic mine rescue in India.
0:52.5	A pioneering engineer rescued 65 coal miners who had been trapped for three days,
0:57.8	using a method which had never been done before.
1:01.0	I've been speaking to his son.
1:06.8	It's 7.30am on the 13th of November, 1989, and we're on West Bengal.
1:12.6	Jaswant Singh Gill, a general manager at Coal India, is stuck in traffic on his way to work.
1:18.0	My dad heard the siren of the mine rescue van. So he asked his driver to go out, ask the driver of the mine rescue van, what had happened.
1:27.3	He came back and he told him that there's a place called Mahabir,
1:30.1	which was not very far from where they were at that time.
1:33.4	And that some accident had taken place there.
1:36.2	He just told his driver, okay, let's follow this van,
1:39.5	and we'll also go and see what has happened.
1:42.2	That's our prete single, Jasmine's son.
	...

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