What we know about Assam’s flooded coal mining so far

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma seeks Navy divers help to pull out the trapped workers

Hyderabad: Rescue operations are in full swing to pull out the nine coal mine workers who have been trapped inside a flooded coal mine in Assam’s Dima Hasao district since Monday.

On Tuesday, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma urged the Indian Navy to assist the operation as the water level in the pit rose to over 100 feet. It is unclear how the mine got flooded.

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“Navy deep divers have been requisitioned to assist in the rescue operation. The water level inside the mine has risen to nearly 100 feet, according to the assessment by the stationed team. The divers are flying in from Visakhapatnam and are expected to arrive soon,” the Chief Minister said on X.

Deep divers from the Army are also at the site and have entered the mine as part of the rescue mission.

Rescue operations are being continuously carried out by the National Disaster Relief Force and the State Disaster Relief Force, but in vain. Two water pumping machines have also been put into use to flush out the water. According to reports, the pit of the mine was flooded unexpectedly while the workers were still inside it on Monday.

Sarma had also sought the Army’s help to rescue the trapped labourers.
However, Reuters reported quoting local government sources that three bodies have been spotted by rescue teams but have not yet been recovered.

‘Rat-hole’ mining
It is a method of extracting coal from horizontal seams in Meghalaya and other northeastern States. Narrow pits are dug into the ground, large enough for one person to fit in and extract the coal, just like rats dig a hole.

Once the holes are dug, coal miners descend into them using ladders or ropes and extract the coal using tools like pickaxes, shovels and baskets.

Another type of technique called box-cutting involves a process where a rectangular opening is made, varying from 10 to 100 sq metre. Then through that opening a vertical pit is dug, 100 to 400 feet deep and once the coal seam is found, rat-hole-sized pits are dug through which the workers extract the coal.

In 2014, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) banned this practice citing threats to workers’ lives as they lack safety measures such as proper ventilation, structural support, or safety and also many other environmental hazards like degradation and water pollution caused by the mining works. It also retained the ban in 2015.

List of trapped workers
The miners have been identified as Ganga Bahadur Shreth from Nepal, Sanjit Sarkar from West Bengal, Hussain Ali, Jakir Hussain, Sarpa Barman, Mustafa Seikh, Khusi Mohan Rai, Lijan Magar and Sarat Goyary from Assam, Sarma said on Monday.

List of Laborers Trapped in Mine (Umrangsu)
1.Ganga Bahadur Shreth (38 years)
S/o: Late Man Harbhajan Shreth
R/o: Rampur (Dummana-2Bhijpur), PS Thoksila, Dist: Udayapur, Nepal
2.Hussain Ali (30 years)
S/o: Alom Uddin
R/o: Bagaribari, PS Shyampur, Dist: Darrang, Assam
3.Jakir… https://t.co/cCx6CYSa93

— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) January 6, 2025