At least five labourers, four from Assam and one from Tripura, are feared trapped in a 500-feet coal mine in East Jaintia Hills district. The incident took place in Umpleng area under Sutnga Elaka.
Three of the trapped coal mine labourers have been identified. They are Abdul Karim from Boko, Assam, Abdul Kalam from Barpeta, Assam and Shyamcharan Debbarma from Tripura. Two others who are yet to be identified are from Silchar, Assam.
Since the mine was flooded, the chances of the trapped workers’ survival are extremely remote although efforts are on to rescue them.
According to East Jaintia Hills district police, the information regarding the incident was received from Superintendent of Police (SP) Silchar yesterday.
“Based on the information, the district police were able to identify the probable location of the incident at 6 am today. The delay in identification of the probable site was due to inclement weather, poor night light condition and non-availability of any eyewitness account,” East Jaintai Hills SP, Jagpal Singh Dhanoa said in a statement today.
Dhanoa also informed that higher authorities were appraised about the “probable” incident and in collaboration with the district administration, search and rescue operation was launched. He also said that the State Disaster Response Team has also reached the site.
The SP also said that during the search and rescue operation under the supervision of the Inspector General of Police (Law and Order), today at around 5 pm six persons came forward with eyewitness accounts of the events that transpired yesterday.
“As per eyewitness accounts, due to the sudden explosion of dynamite, five persons got trapped in the sudden rush of water into the mine. Within no time the mine was inundated,” Dhanoa said.
He also said that the main culprit as per eyewitnesses is a coal mine manager named Nizam Ali who did nothing to rescue the trapped labourers.
“Rather, Nizam Ali threatened the survivors with dire consequences and chased them away from the mining site,” the SP said.
He also said that the survivors are being looked after by police to ensure their security and all steps are being taken to arrest the manager of the coal mine.
“Till filing of this report, one person has been detained for questioning. Unfortunately, he has tested positive for Covid-19 and is being kept under guard at the isolation centre at Khliehriat,” Dhanoa said.
The SP also informed that an FIR in connection with the incident has been registered at Khliehriat police station under various sections of IPC, MMDR Act and Disaster Management Act.
It may be recalled that a similar incident occurred on December 13, 2018, when 15 miners from Assam were trapped inside a 370-feet deep flooded coal mine at Ksan in East Jaintia Hills. While five miners managed to escape, bodies of the rest could never be retrieved.
Six coal miners from Karimganj, Assam also died in an accident inside a coal mine at a place known as Sarkari near Rymbai area in East Jaintia Hills in January this year. The incident happened when the crane box, used for going down a deep pit, snapped and broke apart, taking the migrant workers down a 100-feet deep mine.
