Feb 5 (Reuters) – At least 16 people were killed and more were feared trapped after an explosion at an unauthorised coal mine in India’s northeastern state of Meghalaya, an official said, the latest in a series of similar incidents in the region in recent years.
The blast took place at around 10 a.m. local time (0430 GMT) in a ‘rat-hole’ mine – named because their tunnels are just big enough for workers to get through – in the East Jaintia Hills district, the district’s deputy commissioner Manish Kumar told Reuters.
Rat-hole mines were once used extensively in India’s northeastern states, but were banned in 2014 because of the large number of fatalities and the damage caused to the environment.
Local police were on the scene and have been conducting rescue operations, but attempts to reach the miners have been suspended due to a lack of equipment, the deputy commissioner said. Eight people were also injured in the incident, he added.
Rescue work was hampered because of the remote location of the mine, Kumar said, adding that it would take several hours of driving off-road for state and federal rescue workers to reach the spot and resume search and rescue operations.
“The Government of Meghalaya has ordered a comprehensive inquiry into the incident. Accountability will be fixed, and those responsible will face strict legal action,” the state’s Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said in a post on X.
A total of 63 people have died during illegal rat-hole mining in the north-eastern states of Assam and Meghalaya since 2012, according to a federal government estimate.
(Reporting by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Jan Harvey)
