Umrangso coal mine tragedy: All nine missing miners’ bodies recovered after 42 days

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaFebruary 19, 2025

The harrowing search for nine miners trapped in a flooded rat-hole coal mine in Assam’s Dima Hasao district has come to a tragic end. Forty-two days after the disaster, rescue teams recovered the last five bodies on Wednesday, marking the final chapter of the Umrangso coal mine tragedy.

The operation had earlier yielded three bodies on January 8, followed by three more, including that of a Nepalese citizen, on January 9.

“Today, the dewatering of the Umrangso mine reached a level that allowed retrieval operations to begin. The remains of the last five miners have been successfully recovered and brought to the surface. The process of identification is now underway,” an NDRF spokesperson confirmed.

The tragedy unfolded on January 6 at the 3 Kilo coal mine in Umrangso. Rescue operations commenced the following day, with the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) working tirelessly to drain the flooded mine until January 17. Despite the involvement of deep divers from the Indian Navy and personnel from the Indian Army, Assam Rifles, Assam Police, and Fire & Emergency Services, the operation was suspended on January 17 due to extreme difficulties.

However, on February 5, the Dima Hasao district administration once again sought assistance from the NDRF. A fresh team, led by Inspector Raoushan Kumar Singh, resumed efforts on February 6. Under the supervision of Assistant Commandant Manoj Kumar Rana of the 1st Battalion NDRF, the team successfully retrieved the final five bodies from the mine’s depths on Wednesday.

“H P S Kandari, Commandant of the 1st Battalion NDRF, closely monitored the entire operation and personally descended into the coal mine to assess the ground situation,” the spokesperson added.

The recovery of all the bodies has provided some closure to the tragedy, but it has also intensified political scrutiny. The Himanta Biswa Sarma-led state government had come under fire from opposition parties, including the Congress and AJP, who accused it of secretly colluding with rat-hole miners and allowing illegal mining operations to continue.

With all nine missing miners now accounted for, the focus shifts to accountability and measures to prevent such disasters in the future.