A survivor of the Indian coal mine disaster has shared a harrowing account of the moments after the tunnel was suddenly engulfed by water.
Ravi Rai was working at a mine in the northeastern state of Assam on Monday morning when water entered the pit.
“We hung on a rope in 15-18 meter deep water for at least 50 minutes before being pulled out,” he said.
Rescuers rush to save miners stuck in the flooded mine in a remote area of Assam. Authorities say one body has been found and there are reports that two others are dead. Six other people are still believed to be trapped in the mine.
Mr. Rai, originally from Nepal, said he was working in a so-called rat-hole mine – a narrow hole dug by hand to extract coal – when water suddenly started pouring in.
Miners dig narrow pits, often just wide enough for a single person to extract the coal. They descend narrow shafts, sometimes using ropes or ladders, leading to horizontal tunnels where coal is extracted.
“We were working inside the mine and the water came in suddenly. We don’t know where (the water came from)… We ran for our lives. We were then hanging by a rope in water 50 to 60 feet deep,” he said.
For nearly an hour, he and a few others were suspended by a rope attached to a crane, and Mr. Rai says there were times when he feared they would not survive.
“We slipped in the water again, but we managed to escape,” he said.
According to local media, more than a dozen miners managed to escape the tunnel, but no official figures have yet been given.
Despite his injuries, Mr Rai is relieved to be safe. However, his colleague, also from Nepal, remains trapped.
“My family still hasn’t come (to the site) – I don’t think they’ve been informed yet,” he said.
The accident occurred on Monday, when nine men were trapped inside the mine in the hilly district of Dima Hasao after water from a nearby unused mine suddenly seeped in, according to reports .
The navy deployed divers and deep-sea teams to rescue trapped miners and pump water from the mine, while the army sent helicopters, engineers and divers to assist in the rescue, the ANI news agency.
Officials say high water levels in the mine have posed significant challenges to rescue and recovery operations.
HPS Kandhari, commander of the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF), said it was difficult to estimate the duration of the operation.
“It’s very difficult to get into the water, there’s almost nothing visible and we don’t know what’s inside,” he said.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the flooded mine appears illegal.
Police are investigating the matter and one person has been arrested, he said.
India banned so-called rathole mining in 2014, but despite this, small-scale illegal mines continue to operate in Assam and other northern and northeastern states. Accidents are not uncommon here.
Six workers were killed in January 2024 after a fire broke out at a coal mine in Nagaland state.
In 2018, at least 15 men were trapped in an illegal mine in Meghalaya after waters from a nearby river flooded it.
Five miners managed to escape, but efforts to rescue the others continued until March the following year. Only two bodies were found.
Additional reporting by Dilip Kumar Sharma in Guwahati
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