Rescue workers on Friday afternoon retrieved a third body from a rat hole mine in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills district where at least five miners are said to be trapped since May 30.
The first body was fished out by a team of Navy personnel on June 16 and the second on June 24. The trapped miners were among a dozen workers who were operating illegally in a 500 ft deep rat-hole coal mine at Krem Ule in the district’s Umpleng area.
The district’s Deputy Commissioner Ethelbert Kharmalki said an inquest was conducted by an executive magistrate at the spot and the body was later transported to the civil hospital in district headquarters Khliehriat for post-mortem.
“We have informed the relatives of the victims from Cachar, Barpeta and Kamrup districts in Assam and North Tripura district through their respective Superintendent of Police to identify the retrieved bodies,” he said.
He added that no one has come forward to identify the bodies retrieved earlier.
The Navy team is being assisted by the personnel of the National Disaster Response Force, the State Disaster Response Force and the local police.
Officials said intermittent heavy showers and the tendency of interconnected mines to fill up with water have been hampering the operations to retrieve the bodies.
The police had arrested the former and current owners of the Krem Ule mine. Both are out on bail while the contractor of labourers has been absconding.
