KHLIEHRIAT, Jan 22: An accident in a coal pit in Rymbai Elaka of East Jaintia Hills killed six labourers on Thursday afternoon, more than two years after at least 16 miners died in a submerged rat-hole coal mine in the district’s Ksan area.
Officials said the bodies of six labourers – all from Cachar and Karimganj districts of southern Assam’s Barak Valley – were retrieved from the mine at Sorkari, named after a government forest there.
The bodies were sent to Khliehriat CHC for autopsy. The post-mortem was done on three bodies while the other three were yet to be examined.
Some members of the victims’ families, also working in the coal mines, said the mishap happened when the trolley of the crane malfunctioned as they were ascending from a depth of about 180 ft to dig for coal seam.
Three of the victims were brothers who had been working in the area for the last six months. One of the six bodies could not be identified.
“We identified five of the dead after receiving information about the accident at around 5:30 pm yesterday (Thursday),” one of the relatives said.
The district authorities have arranged for the bodies to be set to their native place for the final rituals.
East Jaintia Hills Superintendent of Police, Deepak Pelecha did not take calls but Deputy Commissioner E Kharmalki said the police were investigating the incident.
“The facts will be known after proper inquiry. We have some information about the owner of the coal extraction site but the identity of the person is yet to be confirmed,” he said.