Haflong: Time seems to be running out for eight workers trapped inside the coal mine at Umrangso in Dima Hasao district of Assam as the rescue operation enters the fifth day on Friday. Since Monday morning 8 workers have been stuck inside the coal mine after water gushed into it. With every passing hour, the chances of survival of the workers, trapped inside the mine where rat-hole mining was going on, apparently appear slim. Rescue operations are underway through various processes but the rescue teams are yet to trace the workers.
Meanwhile, the rescue mission has been in an adverse situation due to the accumulation of 300 feet of water in the coal mine. Water is accumulating again in the mine even after pumps drain out the water from the mine working day and night. According to locals, water is streaming in from the nearby Khandong Dam and Kapili River in the coal mines, making the rescue operation an uphill task.
At present, arrangements have been made to install pipes of special water drainage pumps brought from Nagpur 300 feet below the coal mine. Authorities are making arrangements to drain out the water.
Following the arrest of a person named Punus Nunisa for carrying out illegal mining at the coal quarry where the tragedy unfolded on Monday, Assam police have arrested another person named Hanan Laskar for allegedly carrying out illegal mining. The man was arrested on the basis of the confession of Punus Nunisa, who is currently in police custody for four days.
On Wednesday, the joint rescue team of NDRF-SDRF and Indian Navy conducted an operation and recovered the body of a labourer, Ganga Bahadur Shreshtha, a resident of Nepal, but they are yet to rescue eight other workers. With this, anxiety is growing among labourers stuck in the coal mines and their kin.
