Guwahati: It took a month and a half, 44 days to be precise, for rescue teams to recover the bodies of five miners who had been trapped in a flooded coal mine in Assam’s Dima Hasao district.
After the coal mine was suddenly flooded on January 9, a total of nine miners got trapped.
Four bodies were recovered within days of the flooding in the rescue operation carried out by NDRF, Indian Army, Indian Navy, SDRF and Assam Rifles. The first body was found on January 8, and three more on January 11.
“Today, the dewatering of Umrangso mines was completed to a level where retrieval operations could be launched. The mortal remains of the remaining 5 miners have been recovered and brought up from the mine shaft. The process to identify the remains has been initiated,” Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma posted on X, stating,
The Assam government announced a compensation of ₹10 lakh to the families of the nine miners.