Tinsukia, June 9: Two coal miners have been killed in an illegal rat-hole mine at Ledo in eastern Assam’s Tinsukia district. The bodies of two miners were recovered on Wednesday from a rate hole mine at the Molo Pahar area under the Ledo police station in the Tinsukia district.

Police suspects that they died due to inhalation of some poisonous gas like methane at the illegal mine in Ledo.

One of the two killed miners has been identified as Nayan Phukan, a resident of the Itakhuli area of Ledo.

Sources said they worked under one Kitesh Debnath, who runs the illegal coal trade in Ledo.

“Many youths have died so far in the rat-hole mines. Most of them were from poor background and were involved in the illegal procuring of coals. A few months back, a youth from Makum was killed in rat-hole mines in the Ledo area. The body of the youth identified as Pranjal Moran was retrieved after three months from the rat-hole mine,” said a source.

In September last year, at least three workers were killed at an illegal “rat hole” mine in Ledo.

Police officials said illegal ‘rat hole’ mines have been mushrooming in Margherita and Ledo in the Tinsukia district with coal smugglers running an organised racket in the area.

“‘Rat hole’ mining is banned, but such mines still operate in some parts of the region. We crack down on such mines whenever we get any information,” said a police official.

Large scale extraction of coal is going on unabated in Tinsukia and Karbi Anglong districts of Assam which includes reserve forests.

Rat-hole miming is the process of extracting coal and other minerals by digging narrow tunnels deep into the earth and sending down workers using trolleys and ladders to remove the minerals manually. In 2014, NGT had banned it specifically in Meghalaya.