GUWAHATI, India– At least nine workers are trapped inside a coal mine in India’s northeastern state of Assam, officials said Tuesday, as authorities called in the military to help in the rescue operation.
The miners were trapped on Monday morning in the Umrangso area in Dimapur Hasao district, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of the state capital, Guwahati.
Workers are feared “trapped 300 feet underground after water gushed from a nearby disused mine. We are mobilizing resources to rescue them,” said Kaushik Rai, a local government minister who is supervising the rescue at the site.
Authorities brought army soldiers and a national disaster management team to the area to assist in the ongoing operation.
Workers at the site said more than a dozen miners had been trapped inside the mine, which has minimal safety measures, and that some miners managed to escape when water from a nearby disused mine began filling the mine.
In eastern and northeastern India, workers mine coal under dangerous conditions in small “rat hole” mines that are common in mountainous areas. During mining, coal is placed in boxes that are raised to the surface using pulleys.
Accidents in illegal mining are frequent and the livelihood of those who practice it depends on the illegal sale of coal.
