Shillong, Feb 6: Poverty forced most of the miners who were caught up in the deadly explosion that rocked an illegal rat hole coal mine in East Jaintia Hills to take up the dangerous work that has taken a huge toll in life and limb.
At least 25 miners have died, several were injured and others are still missing from the explosion that struck the mine at Thangkso yesterday.
At the tragedy site in Thangkso, the heart-wrenching cries of Tara Devi Malakar echo through the air as she clutches her granddaughter. Tara, a resident of Baksa district in Assam, is inconsolable as she awaits news about her son, who has been working in the coal mine.
With each passing moment, her fear deepens, compounded by the knowledge that she may be facing a future without him. “I don’t have a home, how will I raise his three kids alone,” she cried before reporters.
Many families are now anxiously awaiting updates about their loved ones. Reports indicate several miners are still unaccounted for.
A group of reporters on Friday spoke to the family members of the injured who were admitted for treatment at NEIGRIHMS in Shillong.
A relative of Raju Tamang, one of the injured miners, said that they came to know about the incident through a news report.
She said that people found Tamang at around 12 noon with burn injuries and he was first brought to Woodland Hospital in Jowai and then shifted to Woodland Hospital in Shillong but due to lack of facilities he was subsequently moved to NEIGRIHMS.
The miners have come from a variety of places, such as neighbouring Assam to Tripura, Nepal and elsewhere.
Tamang’s relative said that many people are working in such mines to earn a living for their families. Due to a lack of employment options, illiterate people have no choice but to work under such harsh conditions, she added.
“In such places they work so that they can send their children to a good school so that their kids won’t have to do such things in the future,” she said, adding that the job is risky and without safety measures.
The wife of Deb Malakar, originally from Tripura, said that she, her husband and four of their children lived in a camp near the illegal coal mine when the incident occurred on Thursday morning.
She said that Malakar was working at the site for under a month.
According to her, the labourers went for work at around 5am and the incident occurred three hours later. According to her, dynamite exploded in an adjacent mine, which also hit the area where her husband was working.
Dolma Sherpa, a college student in Khliehriat, the district headquarters of East Jaintia Hills, said that her father, another of the injured being treated in NEIGRIHMS, had always worked in coal mines to support the family, which consists of four children and his wife.
“We are in shock since such a thing happened to my father, my mother can’t process what is going on,” she said.
Sherpa said that it has been around a month since her father was working in that particular mine. A doting father, he always told them to focus on their studies and the rest will be handled by him.
