Guwahati:

Five more bodies of workers who were trapped inside an illegal ‘rat-hole’ coal mine in Assam’s Dima Hasao district have been recovered, 44 days after the structure was flooded, trapping nine. 

Water gushed into the 310-foot deep 3 Kilo Coal Quarry in Dima Hasao district’s Umrangso on January 6 and several teams, including Navy divers, had been deployed to rescue the trapped labourers. The bodies of four of the labourers had been pulled out earlier and the Assam government said all of the trapped workers are now accounted for. 

The body of one of the workers was recovered on January 8 and three other bodies were found three days later. 

Compensation of Rs 10 lakh each has been paid by the state government to the families of the four miners whose bodies were recovered earlier and Rs 6 lakh each was given to the families of the others. The Assam government had announced that each family would be paid a total of Rs 10 lakh each. 

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had earlier said that the mine was abandoned 12 years ago. A judicial inquiry has been ordered into the incident. 

Apart from the depth of the ‘rat-hole’ mine, another aspect that was making locating the labourers difficult was that the main shaft led to four small tunnels, each of which branched out, creating a large network. There was no blueprint available for the rescue teams to refer to.

Guwahati:

The body of another worker, who was trapped inside a coal mine in Assam’s Dima Hasao district, was recovered from the quarry this morning.

Two bodies have so far been recovered with the first one brought out from the mine in Umrangsu on Wednesday. They were among nine workers who were trapped inside the mine on Monday after a sudden gush of water flooded the quarry.

The worker has been identified as Ligen Magar, aged about 27, a resident of Dima Hasao.

“Rescue efforts in Umrangsu continue with unwavering resolve. Our hearts go out to the grieving, as we hold onto hope and strength in this difficult time,” Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said in a post on X.

The identity of the recovered body has been confirmed as Ligen Magar, aged approximately 27 years, a resident of 1 No. Umrangshu, Dima Hasao, Assam. https://t.co/jKQ2tuUIKU

— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) January 11, 2025

An official said Magar’s body was found floating on accumulated water in the mine after the army and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) divers went to bring out the worker.

Dewatering of the quarry, which is about 310 feet deep, continued with specialised machines brought in by ONGC and Coal India.

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Mr Sarma had earlier claimed that the mine was abandoned 12 years ago and was under the Assam Mineral Development Corporation till three years ago.

”It was not an illegal mine but an abandoned one. The workers had entered the mine that day for the first time to extract coal,” he said on Friday.

He said the leader of the workers has been arrested and the police are conducting investigations into the case.

What’s Hampering Assam Mine Rescue

Multiple teams from various central and state organisations and all three arms of the Indian Armed Forces – the Army, Navy and Air Force – are involved in the operation to rescue the labourers who have been trapped in a flooded mine in Assam.

The water that gushed into the 3 Kilo Coal Quarry in Umrangsu, rescuers said, is now acidic and murky because it has mixed with coal. This has made visibility and manoeuvrability very difficult even for the team from the Navy, which includes clearance divers trained in deep-depth diving and recovery operations.

The divers from the rescue teams, they said, had to risk their lives to pull out the body that they did on Wednesday.

The murky water, an official said, is making it difficult even to use remote-operated vehicles.

Another aspect that is making locating the labourers difficult is that the 310-foot deep main shaft leads to four small tunnels in the ‘rat-hole’ mine, each of which branches out, creating a large network. There is no blueprint available for the rescue teams to refer to.

Speaking to NDTV on Wednesday, a worker at the mine, Jalaluddin, had said that the height of some of the tunnels is barely three feet.

“There is no room to even stand, and we have to bend and mine for coal. Even when sitting, the roof is just 4-5 inches above our heads,” he said.