[Watch] Third Body Recovered From Assam Coal Mine, Rescue Operation Enters Sixth Day

Guwahati: As the rescue operations entered the sixth day, rescue workers managed to recover the body of another worker who was trapped inside a coal mine in Assam’s Dima Hasao district. With this, three bodies have so far been recovered from the mine since the disaster occurred.

According to reports, nine coal mine workers were trapped inside the mine in Assam’s Umrangsu on Monday after a sudden gush of water flooded the quarry.

#WATCH | Assam | The third body has been recovered by the joint rescue team of the Indian army and NDRF from the inundated rat-hole coal mine at 3 Kilo Umrangso area in Dima Hasao district today. The second body was recovered this morning. pic.twitter.com/hDF9LiW5xF

— ANI (@ANI) January 11, 2025

“The rescue operations resumed this morning and one more body was recovered as the search for trapped miners entered its sixth day. The body of one labourer, hailing from Nepal, had already been recovered,” an official said, as quoted  by PTI.

The deceased (whose body was the second one to be recovered) was reportedly identified as 27-year-old Ligen Magar, a resident of village number 1 of Kalamati in Dima Hasao. Magar’s body was found floating on accumulated water in the mine after the army and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) divers went to bring out the worker, PTI reported.

“These were the bodies which were likely trapped in the rat holes which are now coming into the main well with the water…” an NDRF official told ANI.

#WATCH | Assam | The third body has been recovered by the joint rescue team of the Indian army and NDRF from the inundated rat-hole coal mine at 3 Kilo Umrangso area in Dima Hasao district today. The second body was recovered this morning. pic.twitter.com/hDF9LiW5xF

— ANI (@ANI) January 11, 2025

‘Unwavering resolve’

The NDRF is conducting a joint rescue operation with the Army. Air Force helicopters have also joined the operation. SDRF teams, Assam Rifles divers and medical teams, along with Engineers Task Force are also present at the site.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the rescue operations have been continuing with “unwavering resolve.” “Rescue efforts in Umrangsu continue with unwavering resolve. Tragically, another body was recovered this morning,” the chief minister wrote on X, adding that the incident should not be politicised and was a human tragedy. It has been alleged that a family member of Dima Hasao Autonomous Council’s Chief Executive Member (CEM) Debolal Gorlosa was involved in the incident.

Earlier, Sarma had said that it wasn’t an illegal mine but an abandoned one. “The workers had entered the mine that day for the first time to extract coal,” he had said.