Tragedy struck in India’s northeastern Assam state as three miners were feared dead after a coal mine in Dima Hasao district became flooded on Monday. Authorities have been working tirelessly through the night to rescue a total of nine men trapped inside the submerged mine.
According to a statement from the local government, rescue teams have identified three bodies within the mine, though they have yet to be recovered. The incident began when the mine encountered an internal water channel, leading to a rapid influx of water that inundated the area where the miners were working.
District police chief Mayank Kumar told Reuters, \"The mine got flooded yesterday – the source was internal. They probably hit some water channel, and water came out and flooded it.\"
In response to the emergency, army teams deployed divers, helicopters, and engineers to assist in the rescue operations. Photographs shared by the army on social media depict rescue workers equipped with ropes, cranes, and other essential gear as they navigate the challenging vertical mine structure in their bid to reach the stranded miners.
Mining-related disasters in India’s remote northeastern regions are, unfortunately, not uncommon. In one of the most significant incidents in recent history, at least 15 miners lost their lives in 2019 when an illegal mine in neighboring Meghalaya was flooded by water from a nearby river.
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Three feared dead as India deploys divers to rescue trapped miners
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