3 bodies found in flooded coal mine in Assam; Army, Navy, IAF join rescue efforts

A resident of Nepal and West Bengal are among the nine workers who went missing on Monday morning in the flooded coal mine in Tinkilo, an interior place under Umrangso police station.

Guwahati: Rescuers on Tuesday found bodies of three workers in the flooded coal mine in Assam's hilly Dima Hasao district, where nine persons got trapped on Monday morning but could not fish out any from the well.

Army and Assam Rifles personnel made two diving attempts on Tuesday while Navy divers were flown in from Visakhapatnam. A helicopter of the Indian Air Force was also pressed into service to airlift equipment to the mishap site.

A bulletin issued by Dima Hasao district administration on Tuesday morning said three bodies were found floating in the well at around 9 am but those could not be fished out yet. The well is about 300 feet deep and there is still 100 feet deep water.

Government officials said the workers got trapped after water in the well situated in the interior Tinkilo area under Umrangso police station suddenly rose at around 8am on Monday. Umrangso, situated along the border with Meghalaya, is about 300kms from Guwahati.

A few workers, who managed to come out of the mine, informed the mine owner and the local police about the mishap. Officials earlier suspected that the number of trapped persons could be 15 but CM Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday night released the names of nine missing workers.

Sarma said Ganga Bahadur Shreth of Nepal's Udayapur district and Sanjit Sarkar of Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal are among the nine missing persons. Rest of the workers are from Assam's Darrang, Kokrajhar, Dima Hasao and Sonitpur district.

Sarma on Tuesday sought help from the union coal ministry, which instructed the Coal India Limited to provide assistance in the rescue efforts. The NDRF, SDRF and other local agencies are already carrying out the rescue efforts.

Illegal coal mining

CM Sarma said police registered a case and arrested a local person, identified as Punish Nunisa, for illegally running the coal mine. "Prima facie, it appears to be an illegal mine," Sarma posted on X. Sources said the person was running the coal mine illegally taking advantage of the interior area.

The incident once again brought to light the problem of illegal coal mining in Assam and Meghalaya. At least 26 workers had died in similar coal mine tragedies in Meghalaya and Nagaland in 2018, 2021 and 2024. Such incidents had even led the National Green Tribunal to issue a ban on coal mining in Meghalaya.

Coal mine mishaps

December 2018: 10 workers died in coal mine mishap at Ksan in Jaintia Hills district, Meghalaya.

June 2021: Five miners died in a coal mine mishap in East Jaintia Hills district, Meghalaya.

January 2024: Six workers died and four others injured in a fire inside a coal mine in Wokha in Nagaland.