UMRANGSO The efforts to reach the workers trapped in an Assam coal mine made headway on Friday as the rescuers reduced the water level inside the flooded quarry, officials aware of the matter said, adding that the supervisor of the labourers, who was absconding since the disaster, was arrested.
In Guwahati, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the mine was earlier run by the state’s mines and minerals department but was abandoned 12 years ago, calling Monday’s mining operation “illegal”.
The ongoing rescue work in the state’s Dima Hasao district was suspended on Thursday after authorities appeared unable to reduce the estimated 100 feet of water in the mine, with officials suggesting that an underground aquifer was constantly inundating the main pit and the tunnels that branched out.
“We used five traditional pumps to drain out the water on Friday, which resulted in the water level in the mine going down by around 7m (around 23 feet). The process of dewatering other nearby mines is also underway to ensure that water from those doesn’t enter the mine where the mishap took place,” said GD Tripathi, CEO of Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA).
A high-intensity pump provided by Coal India Limited, which can drain about 2,250 litres of water per minute, was set to be pressed into the de-watering process from Saturday, giving a fillip to the rescue efforts, he added.
“The process of installing the heavy-duty pump of Coal India Limited, which was flown in by Indian Air Force from Nagpur on Thursday, is underway. Once that pump starts operating on Saturday, we hope that the water level of the mine will go down significantly ,” said Tripathi.
Officials have maintained that it was imperative to first drain the mine to save the workers, who might be trapped behind debris in one of the many rat hole mines connected to the main quarry. It was not clear if any of the workers are still alive.
Local residents said around 40 people entered the mine at around 9am on Monday. The workers likely struck a source of water that flooded the mine, officials familiar with the matter have said, adding that while most of the workers managed to escape, between nine and 15 were stuck. On Wednesday, the body of Nepal resident Ganga Bahadur Shretho was retrieved from the mine.
The exact number of workers trapped is still not known, as the illegal operation kept no records. Punish Nunisa, who was operating the mine and engaged the trapped workers, was arrested and booked on Tuesday.
On Friday, police arrested Hanan Laskar, who was the “sardar” (supervisor) of the workers and fled from the site of the mine after Monday’s disaster.
“The ‘sardar’ of the miners, who had fled the quarry site soon after the incident on January 6, was arrested on Thursday after an extensive search operation. This is the second arrest in connection with the case,” said a senior police officer on condition of anonymity.
The mine is in a far-flung district of Assam dotted with many such crude operations, where functions are unregulated and labourers often work without safety equipment. In an interaction with journalists in the state capital, Himanta said: “It was an abandoned mine, not an illegal one. The mine was legally operated by Assam mines and minerals department till 12 years ago. Monday was the first day when the workers entered the mine. The decision by the operators to start mining in the well was illegal.”