GUWAHATI: Three bodies are found in the coal mine where nine labourers were feared trapped in Assam’s Umrangso area of Dima Hasao district since Monday.
According to a government report, a 30-member team of the National Disaster Response Force is stationed at the site. Another team of the State Disaster Response Force with eight personnel has been deployed to the site.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said Navy deep divers had been requisitioned to assist in the rescue operation. “The water level inside the mine has risen to nearly 100 feet, according to the assessment by the stationed team. The divers are flying in from Visakhapatnam and are expected to arrive soon,” he posted on X.
Guwahati-based defence spokesperson Lt Col Mahender Rawat said that relief columns of the Army reached Umrangso early Tuesday morning to assist the civil administration in rescuing the trapped miners.“Specialist divers, engineers with equipment, medical team, support staff from Army and Assam Rifles have joined the rescue efforts and are preparing for the rescue operation,” he said, adding all efforts were being made in conjunction with the civil administration.
The chief minister also released the names of the trapped miners on Monday night. 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 tragedies are common in the Northeast. In January 2024, a fire in a coal mine in Nagaland's Wokha district left six workers dead and four others injured.
In May, a mine in Assam’s Tinsukia district caved in, killing three miners. Then in September 2022, three coal miners were killed by inhaling suspected toxic gas in the same district.
The biggest tragedy in recent memories was the death of 15 miners in a flooded rat-hole coal mine in Meghalaya’s Ksan area on December 13, 2018.