Miners remain trapped in flooded Assam coal mine
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Photo: ANI
Nine miners are still trapped within a coal mine at Umrangso in Assam's Dima Hasao hill area despite the fact that deep divers from the Indian Navy, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), and the army assisted in the rescue mission.
“The Navy team is now spearheading the rescue efforts,” Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma posted on X sharing the updates.
The state government requested Navy deep divers from Visakhapatnam to aid in the rescue attempt. According to Special DGP Harmeet Singh, divers from the army's special forces, NDRF, and SDRF conducted a thorough search and communicated their findings with the Navy divers, TNIE reported.
“The Navy team came along with deep diving equipment. There are tunnels inside the mine and more equipment will be required to go there,” Singh said.
A statement issued earlier in the day by the state government said, “The bodies are yet to be recovered. Dewatering has been stopped for the time being.”
The mine has a 20-foot radius and is approximately 300 feet deep, with the water level inside reaching more than 100 feet. It is unclear what caused the flooding.
Sarma stated that it appeared to be an illegal mine. Punish Nunisa was arrested in connection with a charge filed by the police under Sections 3(5)/105 BNS, read with Section 21(1) of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act 1957.
On Monday night, the Chief Minister published the identities of the stranded miners. They are Ganga Bahadur Shreth (38) from Nepal, Sanjit Sarkar (35) from West Bengal, Hussain Ali (30), Jakir Hussain (38), Sarpa Barman (46), Mustafa Seikh (44), Khusi Mohan Rai (57), Lijan Magar (26) and Sarat Goyary (37), all from Assam.
Coal mine accidents are widespread in the Northeast. A coal mine fire in Nagaland's Wokha district killed six workers in January of last year. Four other people were injured. In May of the same year, a mine in Assam's Tinsukia district collapsed, killing three miners.
Then, in September 2022, three coal workers were killed after inhaling suspected poisonous gas in the same location. On December 13, 2018, 15 miners were killed in a flooded rat-hole coal mine in Meghalaya's Ksan region, the biggest tragedy in recent memory.