Several miners trapped in coal mine in India’s Assam

BENGALURU: Several miners are feared trapped inside a coal mine in a remote area in the north-east Indian state of Assam and the state has requested the army’s assistance in rescue operations, authorities said on Monday.

As of Monday evening, rescue operations were underway, and authorities were “ascertaining the exact number of people trapped,” Assam Director General of Police GP Singh told Reuters.

“As of now, input indicates that numbers would be in single digits. The State Disaster Response Force has been pressed into service,” he said.

The coal mine is in a remote area in Assam’s hilly Dima Hasao district. Local media reported the miners were trapped by flooding.

“We have requested the Army’s assistance in the ongoing rescue operation. The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are also on their way to the incident site to aid in the efforts,” Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma wrote on X.

The Dima Hasao district’s superintendent of Police (SP) and administrative head (Deputy Commissioner) were on their way to the spot.

Mayank Kumar Jha, Dima Hasao SP, told Reuters the area was very “remote” and “difficult to reach”.

Coal mine-related disasters in the remote northeastern part of India are not uncommon. In one of the biggest disasters, in 2019, at least 15 miners were buried while working in an illegal mine in the neighbouring state of Meghalaya after water from a nearby river flooded it.

Earlier on Monday, Indian Maoist guerrillas killed nine members of the security forces by detonating a roadside bomb that tossed their vehicle into the air.

Photographs published by Indian media showed a deep crater ripped into the road by the blast.

The attack in the central state of Chhattisgarh took place as soldiers were returning from an anti-Maoist operation on Saturday, where four rebels and a police officer were killed.

“Eight security forces and a driver were killed today when the vehicle in which they were travelling in came in contact with a landmine,” said Vivekanand Sinha, chief of the state police’s anti-Maoist operations.

The rebels, also known as Naxalites after the district where their armed campaign began in 1967, were inspired by the Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong.

Around 1,000 suspected Naxalites were arrested and 837 surrendered during 2024.