Guwahati, Jan 11: The bodies of three more workers, who were trapped inside a coal mine at Umrangso in Assam’s Dima Hasao district, were recovered on Saturday from the flooded mine during the ongoing multi-agency rescue operations.
With these four bodies have so far been recovered with the first one taken out from the mine on Wednesday. The labourer whose body was recovered first, hail from Nepal.
The four deceased labourers were among the nine workers trapped inside the coal mine in Umrangso on Monday after a sudden gush of water flooded the it.
“The rescue operations resumed this morning after the night-long halt and three bodies were recovered after a massive dewatering operation inside the mine even as the search for trapped miners entered sixth day today. One of the three labourers whose bodies were recovered from the mine during the day was identified as 27-year-old Ligen Magar, a resident of village number 1 of Kalamati in Dima Hasao.
Magar’s body was found floating on accumulated water in the mine after the army and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) divers went to bring out the worker, an official said.
The remaining two bodies recovered today were identified as 57-year-old Khusi Mohan Rai, a resident of Magargaon under Fakirgram police station in Kokrajhar district of Assam and 37-year-old Sarat Goyary resident of Thailapara, Batashipur under Sonitpur district of Assam.
“Rescue efforts in Umrangso continue with unwavering resolve. Tragically, another body was recovered this morning…,” the chief minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma posted on the microblogging site X earlier in the day.
”Our hearts go out to the grieving, as we hold on to hope and strength in this difficult time,” he added.
Dewatering of the quarry, which is 340 feet deep, was continuing with specialised machines brought in by ONGC and Coal India, the official said.
The chief minister had claimed that the mine was abandoned 12 years ago and was under the Assam Mineral Development Corporation till three years ago.
”It 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 said on Friday night.
He said that the leader of the workers has been arrested and the police are conducting investigations into the case.
Speaking on the ongoing rescue operations, Sarma said that dewatering has been continuing since Thursday and so far, 7 metres of water have been pumped out.
”There was water up to 26 metres across four wells. If water is cleared from the wells, we can expect some results”, he said.
Another machine has been brought in from Nagpur and would be operated from Saturday morning, Sarma said, adding that if it functions according to plans, it is expected that the water would be cleared by evening.