Guwahati, 19 February (HS): The mutilated bodies of the remaining five missing workers were recovered on Wednesday after 45 days from the flooded No. 19 coal mine in Kalamati area of Tin Kilo of Umrangsu in Dima Hasao district of Assam. This information was given by Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma.

The Chief Minister confirmed the news on his official X handle and said, Today, after the water was completely drained out of the mine, the rescue team has recovered the bodies of the remaining five workers. The process of identifying them is going on. With this, the rescue operation has been stopped. Meanwhile, NDRF sources said that the bodies of the five rescued workers have been handed over to the officials of Umrangsu police station for further legal action.

On 6th January, a horrific coal mine accident took place at 3 Kg Kalamati area of Umrangshu under Dima Hasao district, in which NDRF team played a tremendous role during the joint search and rescue operation from 7th January to 17th January. During this period, the bodies of four workers were retrieved.

Once again, NDRF team was requisitioned by the District authorities of Dima Hasao for search and rescue operation on 5th February and the responsibility was handed over to the team under the leadership of Inspector Raushan Kumar Singh on 6th February. Today, the NDRF team under the supervision of Manoj Kumar Rana, AC, 1st Bn NDRF successfully retrieved all the remaining 05 bodies of the victim families from the coal mine base.

Commandant HPS Kandhari of 1st Bn NDRF closely monitored the entire operation and visited the coal mine base during the first phase of search operation to assess the ground situation. Today, the body of one worker was first recovered. Four others remained trapped in the mine. Later, it was officially announced after the recovery of all the four bodies. Thus, the bodies of all the nine workers have been recovered. Earlier, the rescue team had recovered one body on January 8 and three bodies on January 11.

It is noteworthy that on January 6, at around 9:00 am, nine workers were trapped due to sudden inflow of water in about 300 feet deep 'Assam Coal Mine No. 19' in the remote 3 kilo area of Kalamati, located about 25 km from Umrangsu police station on the Assam-Meghalaya inter-state border under Dima Hasao district. Various rescue agencies including Indian Army, Air Force, Navy, NDRF, SDRF, Assam Rifles, ONGC were deployed to rescue them.

Although the bodies of four workers were recovered by January 11, the search and rescue agencies failed to rescue five workers. As a result, on January 18, various rescue agencies including Indian Army and Navy stopped their operation and returned. Later, the first battalion of NDRF was deployed. Due to their efforts, the bodies of all the workers were recovered today.

Meanwhile, in a cabinet meeting held in Morigaon chaired by Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma, it was decided that a one-time financial assistance of ₹10 lakh will be provided to the families of the nine workers who killed in the coal mines.

As per the cabinet decision, on January 18, the state government provided a one-time financial assistance of ₹10 lakh each to the families of all the nine workers killed and missing in Umrangsu. Apart from this, the state's Mines and Mineral Resources Minister Kaushik Rai also gave information in this regard.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Sriprakash