Divers hunt for 15 trapped men

Indian navy divers yesterday launched an operation to find 15 men trapped for more than two weeks in a flooded "rat-hole" coal mine in remote northeast India, police said.

The workers have been cut off since December 13 when water from a nearby river poured into the 106-metre (348 feet) deep illegal mine in Meghalaya state.

There has been no sign of life, with the delayed rescue effort drawing public outrage, but the men's families are clinging to hopes that they may have found an air pocket.