Trapped Indian miners presumed dead

According to Mining News Pro - On December 13, 15 miners were trapped 370 ft below in a coal mine in the Jantia Hills in Meghalaya when the mine was flooded. Coal mining in Meghalaya, though officially banned, but commonly known as ‘rat hole’ mining stemming from holes bored along the hill face, is rampant across the state.

More than 200 rescue workers drawn from the Indian Navy, National Disaster Management Authority and Coal India Limited have been engaged in rescue operations over the past month, but with little success in reaching the depth where the illegal miners are suspected to have been trapped.

Officials said that the mine was flooded from water from a nearby river, and as typified by rat hole mining the disaster stricken mine was networked with a labyrinth of tunnels, with as many as 20 mines so connected, making the task of  pumping out water and accessing the trapped miners virtually impossible.

Political questions have been raised over the Meghalaya government’s failure to stop illegal rat hole mining even after the National Green Tribunal in a ruling banned such coal mining across north-eastern states.

Meanwhile, in a related development, according to information placed by the Indian government before Parliament, 377 miners engaged in coal, minerals and oil were killed in various incidents between 2015 and 2017.

The yearly breakdown of the toll showed that 129 were killed in mining accidents in 2017, 145 in 2016 and 103 in 2015.

The state of Jharkhand reported 69 deaths during these three years, the highest toll being in coal mine accidents, with as many as 23 killed in a single mining accident at the opencast Goda coal mine in 2016.

In the non-coal sector, Rajasthan recorded the highest number of mineral mine accident deaths of 48 during these three years, records placed in Parliament showed.