Assam coal mine tragedy: Race against time to save trapped miners

GUWAHATI: The body of one of the nine miners trapped inside a flooded coal mine in Assam’s Dima Hasao was retrieved on Wednesday even as hopes of rescuing the others began fading.The deceased was identified as Ganga Bahadur Srestho from Nepal. The state government had on Tuesday stated that three bodies had been seen in the mine. Rescue efforts by a joint team comprising the Army, Navy and disaster response forces are on, but senior officials said that the murky and acidic water has made the task of rescuers Herculean.Special DGP Harmeet Singh said the Navy’s remote underwater vehicle has recceed the shaft but didn’t find anything.He said efforts were on to drain the mine. “It seems the well is connected below with some water source because of which even though we are pulling out water, its level is not receding,” he said.The BJP-ruled North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council, under which Dima Hasao district falls, and the state’s BJP government are facing the heat after Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the mine appeared to be illegal. Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi, while demanding an investigation, said, “It is shocking that rat-hole coal mining continued unabated in Assam despite a ban by the National Green Tribunal.”



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