May 2021: Five miners were trapped in a flooded coal mine in the Umpleng area of East Jaintia Hills. Despite prolonged search efforts, no survivors were found.
January 2021: Six miners died when a crane used to lower them into a 500-foot-deep shaft at an abandoned mine in the Sorkari area (East Jaintia Hills) snapped, causing them to plunge to their deaths.
January 2019: Two miners were killed by falling boulders while extracting coal in Jalyiah village, East Jaintia Hills.
December 2018: One of Meghalaya’s most publicised tragedies, 15 miners were trapped when a 370-foot-deep illegal mine in Ksan (East Jaintia Hills) flooded after miners punctured a wall of an adjacent water-filled mine. Only two decomposed bodies were eventually recovered after a multi-agency rescue operation that lasted months.
July 2012: In a major incident near Nongalbibra, South Garo Hills, 15 miners drowned when a rat-hole mine flooded. This disaster was a primary factor leading to the 2014 NGT ban on unscientific mining.
