After 44 days of relentless efforts, the bodies of the remaining five miners trapped inside a flooded rat-hole coal mine at 3 Kilo Umrangso in Assam's Dima Hasao district were recovered by rescue teams on Wednesday.
The tragic incident, which occurred on 6 January, saw nine miners become trapped after water suddenly flooded the coal mine.
Earlier, rescue teams comprising the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the Indian Army, the Indian Navy, the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), and the Assam Rifles had recovered four bodies.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma confirmed the latest recovery in a post on X, formerly Twitter, stating, "Today, the dewatering of the 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."
The first body was retrieved on 8 January, identified as Ganga Bahadur Shreth from Nepal.
Three more bodies were recovered on 11 January, belonging to Lijen Magar (27) from Kalamati village in Umrangso, Khusi Mohan Rai (57) from Magergaon in Kokrajhar, Assam, and Sarat Goyary (37) from Thailapara in Sonitpur, Assam.
The final five bodies were recovered on 19 February.
Also read: Assam coal mine rescue ops enter tenth day, GSI takes charge
The Assam government had previously announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 10 lakh to the next of kin of all nine deceased miners.
The tragedy has left families devastated, particularly Junu Pradhan, the wife of Lijen Magar. With a two-month-old child to care for, she expressed her distress, saying, "He (Lijen Magar) was the only earning source of our family. I have a 2-month-old child and I don't know what will be our future. I am now totally helpless."
The incident has once again drawn attention to the hazardous conditions of illegal rat-hole mining in the region.
Despite a ban imposed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on such mining practices, these illegal operations continue to claim lives due to inadequate safety measures and oversight.
The retrieval operation involved extensive dewatering efforts, with multiple agencies working in tandem to reach the miners. The successful recovery of all nine bodies brings a grim closure to a harrowing ordeal that has shaken the mining community in Assam's Dima Hasao district.
Also read: Four bodies recovered as Assam coal mine rescue ops enter sixth day
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