Guwahati

Another body of a labourer trapped inside the coal mine in Assam’s Umrangso was recovered on Wednesday, said Minister Kaushik Rai.

Rai told reporters that the body of another labourer was taken out from the coal mine on Wednesday by the rescue force.

“There were nine labourers trapped inside the mine. Earlier, the bodies of four labourers were rescued by the Army team and disaster response forces,” the minister said.

A total of nine labourers have been trapped while five have been rescued so far after they got trapped inside the mine in Umrangso locality in Assam’s Dima Hasao district in January.

“Today, the dewatering of the Umrangso mines was completed to a level where retrieval operations could be launched. The mortal remains of the remaining five miners have been recovered and brought up from the mine shaft. The process to identify the remains has been initiated,” said Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

Earlier, the Chief Minister announced an ex-gratia amount of Rs 10 lakh for four labourers who died in the coal mine tragedy. Moreover, the families of the rest of the five labourers who also got trapped in the mine would also receive the same ex-gratia amount.

“A judicial enquiry commission headed by Justice Anima Hazarika, former Judge of Gauhati High Court will be instituted to examine the matter and fix responsibility against responsible officers, individuals and institutions. An SoP will be framed regarding effecting a blanket ban on rat hole mining in the state,” he added.

Sarma also mentioned that an SIT will look into the whole incident, saying, “An SIT will be constituted to enquire into the entire incident on the basis of the FIR already registered on the matter. The SIT will be monitored by Retd Justice Anima Hazarika.”

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The efforts to rescue trapped labourers from the coal mine in Assam's Umrangso locality in the Dima Hasao district were stalled after water continued to pour into the tunnel.

A special team of Army and Navy was brought to rescue the trapped labourers; however, they were not successful in the rescue attempt.