Assam Coal Mine Tragedy: One body recovered, Watch Video

Assam Coal Mine Tragedy: The body of one of the nine missing workers was recovered by Army divers on January 8. They located the body, identified as Ganga Bahadur Srestho from Udaypur district of Nepal, 85 feet below the surface. Eight miners still trapped in rat-hole coal mine.

Rescue operations by multiple state and central agencies continued for the fourth day on Thursday (January 9) to locate trapped miners inside an illegal rat-hole coal mine in Dima Hasao district of Assam, officials said.

The search operations resumed early in the morning after the dewatering exercise all night and the Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) has gone inside the flooded shaft, a senior official of Assam Police told.

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“So far, nothing has been detected by the ROV. It is trying very hard to locate the trapped miner despite the extremely hostile and difficult situation. The water inside is totally blackened and it is creating problems in finding anything,” he added.

Additionally, four deep divers from the Navy also went inside the flooded shaft to find the trapped miners, the official said.

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A united effort is being made by the Navy, Army, NDRF, SDRF, ONGC, Coal India, and district administration to trace the workers trapped inside.

In response to an urgent request for assistance, the Indian Navy has airlifted a specialised team from Visakhapatnam to assist in the rescue of miners trapped in Umrangso of Dima Hasao district in Assam.

The team, comprising one officer and eleven sailors, includes highly trained Clearance Divers skilled in deep depth diving and recovery operations. The team reached the site on 7 Jan 2025 late in the evening and started operations.

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The team is fully equipped for this critical and sensitive mission, carrying specialized equipment such as deep diving gear and underwater Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) for search and rescue.

The effort is being conducted in close coordination with the Indian Army, NDRF & the local civil administration to ensure an immediate and effective response.

With intensive search and rescue operations underway, regular information is being exchanged with all agencies involved to facilitate a smooth and timely rescue operation.

On January 6, the labourers were trapped inside the 3-Kilo Coal Quarry in Umrangso area, around 250 km from Guwahati, after a sudden gush of water flooded the site.

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According to employees of the quarry, there were around 15 workers inside the illegal mine when water breached one of the walls and flooded the entire shaft and tunnels.

“We were told by the miners that nine were missing and the rest escaped the tragedy. Out of them, one body was retrieved yesterday,” the official said.

He said that Coal India has flown in a heavy pressure pump with a capacity of 500 gallons per minute from Maharashtra and it has reached Silchar airport in neighbouring Cachar district.

“One Mi-17 chopper will transport the pump parts in 2-3 sorties and then it will be assembled at the site. Already 5-6 pumps are working, but heavy siltation in water is creating problems for the pumps. We now need heavy submersible pumps and it is being arranged,” the official said.

He confirmed that it was a “complete rat-hole mine”, which is totally illegal after a ban by the authorities concerned.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) banned rat-hole mining in 2014. However, coal is still extracted by this dangerous method in the Northeast.