Guwahati, Feb 19: Forty-two days after nine miners went missing in a flooded rat-hole coal mine in Assam’s Dima Hasao district, rescue teams recovered the last five bodies on Wednesday, bringing a tragic end to the Umrangso coal mine disaster.
The disaster struck on January 6 at the 3 Kilo coal mine in Umrangso. Rescuers had earlier retrieved three bodies on January 8, followed by three more, including that of a Nepalese miner, on January 9. Despite tireless efforts by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Navy deep divers, and other agencies, rising water levels forced a halt to operations on January 17.
“Today, the dewatering of the Umrangso mine reached a level where retrieval operations could be launched. The mortal remains of the remaining five miners have been successfully recovered and brought to the surface. The process of identification is now underway,” an NDRF spokesperson said.
On February 5, the district administration sought NDRF’s help again. A new team, led by Inspector Raoushan Kumar Singh, resumed work on February 6. Finally, on Wednesday, under the supervision of Assistant Commandant Manoj Kumar Rana, the remaining five bodies were retrieved.
“H P S Kandari, Commandant of the 1st Battalion NDRF, personally entered the mine to assess conditions,” an NDRF spokesperson said.
With all nine miners now accounted for, families find some closure, but the tragedy has sparked fresh criticism. Opposition parties, including the Congress and AJP, have accused the state government of ignoring illegal rat-hole mining.
As Assam mourns the loss, attention now turns to preventing such disasters in the future.
Watch
Find latest news from every corner of Northeast India at hubnetwork.in, your online source for breaking news, video coverage.
Also, Follow us on-
Twitter-twitter.com/nemediahub
Youtube channel- www.youtube.com/@NortheastMediaHub2020
Instagram- www.instagram.com/ne_media_hub
Download our app from playstore – Northeast Media Hub
