Rescue operations to rescue the miners from the Umrangso rat-hole coal mine in Assam's Dima Hasao continued on Sunday as the water level in the hole came down from 30 to 15 metres. Four bodies have been fished out so far, and five others are still trapped inside. However, rescuers believe the chances of bringing them out alive are slim.
The deceased include Ganga Bahadur Shreth from Nepal, Lijen Magar (27), from Kalamati village in Umrangso, Khusi Mohan Rai (57), from Magergaon in Kokrajhar, Sarat Goyary (37), from Thailapara in Sonitpur.
#WATCH | Dima Hasao, Assam: Rescue operations underway to save workers trapped in the inundated rat-hole coal mine at 3 Kilo Umrangso area in Dima Hasao district.
— ANI (@ANI) January 12, 2025
Four bodies have been recovered by the joint rescue team of the Indian army and NDRF. pic.twitter.com/XYUy7eT4UK
Dewatering mine
Rescue workers led by the NDRF are pinning their hopes on the falling water level to continue their rescue operations. Harmeet Singh, special DGP of Assam, said the water level has come down by over half and is expected to lower further.
He said there were 12 pumps functioning, and the water level had come down from 30 metres to 15 metres. However, the dangers of inflow still exist as the shaft is interlinked with different wells. "With the water going down further and the shaft opening up further, we hope to get some more results. And once we can clean up the arteries of water, we hope to speed up the rescue operation," said Singh.
State Minister for Mines and Minerals Kaushik Rai also said that dewatering of the mine is being carried out, and the process is expected to reach the final stage soon. The final stage of dewatering is expected to reach within the next 36 hours.
The mine was abandoned 12 years ago and was under the Assam Mineral Development Corporation till three years ago. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said the mine was not an illegal mine but an abandoned one. "The workers had entered the mine that day for the first time to extract coal," Sarma had said.
Sarma's statement triggered a political slugfest with opposition parties questioning how illegal mining activities could be conducted there without the knowledge of local authorities. Assam Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP Gaurav Gogoi Saturday wrote to the Prime Minister demanding the constitution of an SIT to probe the incident and the persistence of rathole mining despite being banned by the National Green Tribunal in 2014.
In his letter, Gogoi urged the Centre to look into the illegal operation of the mine and identify those responsible for this tragedy. The government should address the broader issues at play. This includes the failure to enforce the NGT’s ban on rathole mining, and the complicity of local authorities – including the district administration and district police – who have enabled these illegal activities to persist despite repeated accidents and warnings," Gogoi said.
He also urged the SIT to examine safety standards and working conditions in these mines, which are consistently ignored, leading to deadly incidents.
