5 Missing Miners Bodies Recovered After 44 Days in Flooded Coal Mine ArticlePure

After over a month, the remaining five missing miners’ bodies were recovered from a flooded coal mine in India’s north-eastern state of Assam on Wednesday, Feb. 19, BBC, The Economic Times and Indian Express report.

The discovery of the five bodies follows the Jan. 6 incident when nine miners were trapped after water flooded the narrow hole. The hole was called a “rat hole” and was dug up manually to extract coal.

The bodies have not been identified; DNA tests will be conducted to identify the decomposed remains, said a state official, per the BBC. The first four bodies were recovered within a week.

The first dead body was recovered two days into the rescue mission, and three days later, on Jan. 11, the other three were found. The search continued for another 39 days to find the remaining five.

The rescue operation was conducted with help from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the State DRF, the Indian Navy and the Indian Army.

The nine victims were Ganga Bahadur Shresth, 38, Hussain Ali, 30, Jakir Hussain, 38, Sarpa Barman, 46, Mustafa Seikh, 44, Khusi Mohan Rai, 57, Sanjit Sarkar, 35, Lijan Magar, 26, and Sarat Goyary, 37.

“The process to identify the remains has been initiated,” Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma wrote on X. Additionally, the families of the deceased have been contacted to help identify the bodies. Riki Phukan, an official from Assam’s District Disaster Management Authority, said the families will receive 1,000,000 Indian Rupee ($11,551 USD) compensation from the state government.

At the time of the incident, nearly 40 workers illegally entered the “rat hole” mine when the water began to flood. Twenty-five of the miners successfully escaped the 310-foot-deep mine. 

Ravi Rai, one of the men rescued from the mine, told BBC, “We were holding on to a rope in 50-60ft (15-18m) deep water for at least 50 minutes before being pulled out.” Adding, “We [slipped] back into the water again, but we managed to escape.”

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“Rat-hole” mining was ruled illegal in India beginning in 2014. Despite that, the small illegal mines are still operational in the north-eastern Indian states.

Due to the Jan. 6 incident, Assam authorities are investigating illegal mining activities, per the BBC.