3 bodies pulled out of flooded Assam mine, toll rises to 4

UMRANGSO: Rescuers retrieved on Saturday the bodies of three more miners from the flooded rat-hole coal mine in Assam’s Dima Hasao district, raising the toll to four. The body of 38-year-old Ganga Bahadur Shrestha from Nepal was pulled out on Wednesday. The mine, located in 3 Kilo area of Umrangso, flooded Monday morning due to a breach in an underground water channel at Assam Coal Quarry, trapping at least 11 miners. The three bodies found Saturday have been identified as Lijen Magar, 27, from Umrangso in Dima Hasao; Khusi Mohan Rai, 57, from Kokrajhar; and Sarat Goyary, 37, from Sonitpur – all from Assam.
CM Himanta Biswa Sarma revealed that the mine had been abandoned 12 years ago. “The mine was operated legally by Assam Mineral Development Corporation before it was abandoned. The workers entered the mine illegally, and that’s why we have an FIR registered and two persons arrested,” he said. The mine is of the rat-hole type, notorious for its hazardous working conditions. “The workers entered the mine to extract coal, and on the day of the accident,” Sarma said. The area around the accident site has six more coal minesTNN