Former engineer-in-chief of Coal India Limited, Jaswant Singh Gill, died of a cardiac arrest at the age of 80 at his home in Amritsar in the northern Indian state of Punjab on Tuesday.
The braveheart was known across the globe for saving the lives of 64 miners with his intelligence, nearly 30 years ago. He had risked his own life by going down the borehole in the capsule to evacuate the miners who were stuck in the underground coal mine, Mahavir that was inundated with water n 1989.
Over 20,000 people had assembled to witness the tension-charged rescue operation. Source: Supplied
“There were 220 miners working at the site, 6 of them lost their lives and those closest to the lift were quickly pulled out while 64 still remained trapped,” said Mr Gill at the time of the interview.
After being lowered into the pit, he came out of the borehole after a six-hour ordeal, only after every single trapped miner had been rescued.
“You only get one life, you need to make it count…Everything happened so suddenly that no one had the time to think," added Mr Gill,
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Mr Gill’s operation found a mention in the Limca Book of Records as a national record in the history of coal mining. He was also conferred with the President’s Medal in 1991, besides many other accolades.
A Bollywood movie is also being made on his life’s story, starring Ajay Devgn in the lead role.
