Indian rescuers race to save people trapped in flooded mine with rat holes

Rescuers in India are racing against time to pull out miners trapped in a flooded coal mine in the northeastern state of Assam.

According to Reuters, three of the nine men inside were presumed dead after the state government said rescue teams spotted several bodies they were unable to reach.

The men were trapped on Monday morning after water flooded the rat hole mine, which is a narrow pit dug by hand to extract coal.

Despite a ban on such mining in India since 2014, small-scale illegal mines continue to operate in Assam and other northeastern states.

Divers, helicopters and engineers were deployed to help rescue the trapped men, while state and national disaster response forces are also assisting in the effort.

On Monday evening, Director General of Police Assam G. P. Singh said authorities were determining the exact number of people trapped.

Reports said more than a dozen miners had managed to escape, with initial reports suggesting “the numbers will be in the single digits”.

The mine is located in the hilly area of ​​Dima Hasao district.

Mayank Kumar Jha, a senior police official in the district, told Reuters the area was very “remote” and “difficult to access”.

Mine-related disasters are not uncommon in Northeast India.

In December 2018, at least 15 people were trapped in an illegal mine in the neighboring state of Meghalaya after it was flooded by water from a nearby river.

Five miners managed to escape, but the rescue of the rest continued until the first week of March next year. Only two bodies were found.

In January 2024, six workers died in a coal mine fire in the state of Nagaland.

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