GUWAHATI: Rescuers on Wednesday recovered the bodies of the remaining five labourers from the ill-fated coal mine in the Umrangso area of Assam’s Dima Hasao district.
Altogether nine labourers were trapped on January 6 following flooding inside the mine. During rescue operations carried out by multiple agencies, including the Indian Navy, the bodies of four miners were recovered.
There was, however, no trace of the five others. Authorities used several high-pressure pumps to drain out water but it was not receding. This made officials to suspect the mine was connected to some water source. Later, water was drained out from three nearby abandoned mines.
Dima Hasao district magistrate Simanta Das told TNIE that a drastic fall in the water level helped recover the bodies.
“Dewatering continued all along as we felt water had to be drained out. The water level kept fluctuating in the last seven-eight days. It drastically dropped today, so an operation was launched to go inside the mine. Army and NDRF personnel recovered the bodies in the afternoon,” Das said.
“The bodies had clothes on them. One of them was identified from a missing toe. We will ascertain it further,” the DM said.
The bodies were taken to district headquarters Haflong for post-mortem and collection of DNA samples.
Meanwhile, noisy scenes were witnessed in the state Assembly on Wednesday after the opposition parties brought four adjournment motions, including one on the coal mine tragedy, and coal and other syndicates.
Last month, the government had launched a drive to seal all rat-hole coal mines in the state.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma stated the government detected 220 rat-hole coal mines in the Umrangso area. He had also stated that the state’s Mines and Minerals Department would take steps to close all existing rat-hole mines wherever they are found, in consultations with central agencies.
