Meghalaya: Five miners trapped in coal mine

Four labourers from Assam and one from Tripura were feared trapped after a dynamite blast led to the flooding of a coal mine in East Jaintia Hills district of Meghalaya a senior police officer said Silchar Superintendent of Police in Assam had sent information about the possible trapping of six miners from Assam in the mine accident on SundayThe mine has been identified at Sutnga interior under Umpleng AntiDacoity camp and search operations are on Meghalaya Police posted on TwitterHazardous rathole coal mining is not permitted in Meghalaya after the National Green Tribunal NGT banned it in 2014 The district police were able to identify the probable location of the spot at around 0600 hrs on May 31 The delay in identification of the probable site was due to inclement weather poor night light condition and non availability of any eyewitness account the East Jaintia Hills district SP Jagpal Dhanoa said in a statementAlso read Grenade blast kills 12yearold boy in AssamHigher authorities have been apprised of the matter and a search and rescue operation has been launched While the operation was on under the supervision of IGP law and order six persons gave an account of the events that happened at 5 pm on Sunday the SP said As per the eyewitnesses account due to the sudden explosion of dynamite five persons got trapped in the sudden rush of water into the mine Dhanoa said The mine was inundated within minutes they said One person has been detained for questioning the SP saidSince the man has tested Covid19 positive he has been kept at an isolation centre at Khliehriat the SP said Of the five persons who went missing after the accident three have been identified They are Abdul Kari and Abdul Kalam from Assam and Shyamcharan Debbarma from Tripura the statement said The two unidentified miners are from Silchar in AssamThe main culprit as per eyewitnesses is Sordar manager of the mine who did nothing to rescue the trapped labourers and chased the survivors away Investigation is on and no stone is being left unturned to arrest him the statement said Based on the account of the survivors an FIR was registered at Khliehriat dstrict headquarters police station the SP saidMeanwhile state Disaster Management Minister and local MLA Shylla said he was not sure if illegal mining was going on Disaster management teams of the police and fire departments besides service personnel of the State Disaster Response Force SDRF have been sent to the area the minister saidSince the coal mine identified by the Silchar SP is flooded we have taken all required measures to ensure that the miners are alive Shylla said The NGT ban on mining in Meghalaya came after a petition by Assams All Dimasa Students Union and the Dima Hasao District Committee had complained that due to rathole mining in the Jaintia Hills the water in the Kopili river had turned acidicIn the rathole mining process a deep vertical shaft is dug till coal seams are found Once the seams are found coal is taken out through small holes along the horizontal line of the coal seams At least 15 miners were trapped in a coal mine in the Ksan area of East Jaintia Hills on 13 December 2018 While five of them managed to escape rescue efforts for the remaining 10 had continued till 2 March 2019 In January six labourers died after a crane collapsed into the pit of a coal mine in the same districtThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever