‘Perhaps it was destiny’: Families of Assam coal miners recount horror | Guwahati News – Times of India

Efforts underway to rescue the labourers trapped inside a coal mine, in Dima Hasao district, Assam. (PTI)

UMRANGSO: Survivors of the coal mine catastrophe near the Assam-Meghalaya border recounted harrowing moments, while family members of several deceased miners lamented the loss of their breadwinners. The mine is situated over 140 km from Dima Hasao district headquarters, Haflong, and 3 km from the Assam-Meghalaya border.
Coal extraction operations were scheduled to commence on Jan 6, following a cessation due to the monsoon. Accumulated rainwater in the well was pumped out for two months post-monsoon before initiating mining activities.
Rajib Barman of Sithila Bazar village in lower Assam’s Kokrajhar district was among the miners who descended into the mine well on Jan 6. It was his first day of work in any coal mine, having previously worked as a daily wage labourer in his village.
Recounting his brush with death, Barman narrated that dawn was yet to break on Jan 6 when the miners, including himself, boarded the bucket fitted with a lever and gradually descended into the 300 ft well of the coal mine. “Being my first day at the coal mine and feeling unwell in this remote location, I planned to exit early. Merely two hours after entering the well, we suddenly heard miners shouting from another rat-hole about water ingress,” he said. When he managed to emerge from the rat-hole to the main well’s pit, the water level had reached approximately 2-3 ft. He said there were four rat-holes in the well.
He has a 9-year-old son, wife, and parents in his family. “I am thankful to God for surviving, but I cannot erase the scene witnessed inside the well and the loss of my colleagues. Hence, I continue waiting here at the site, anticipating the recovery of my colleagues’ bodies,” he added.
The incident occurred on Jan 6, and only four miners’ bodies were retrieved by rescue teams until Sunday. Rajib said other miners couldn’t contact those outside as the supervisor’s walkie-talkie was submerged when they rushed from the rat-hole to the main base.
Meanwhile, Manmohan Barman (47) from Khalisanimari village in Kokrajhar district waited patiently for his brother Sarpa Barman’s body (44), which remained unrecovered. He arrived at the site on Wednesday upon hearing about the incident. About 10 days before the disaster, Sarpa returned from Gujarat after working there as a labourer for years. Subsequently, Manmohan said, Sarpa began working in the coal mine. “Perhaps it was destiny… God knows,” he added.
Sarpa has two daughters and a wife. Bodies of Khusimohan Rai (57) from Magergaon in Kokrajhar and one Sanjib Sarkar, who entered with Rajib and Manmohan, remained unrecovered. Manmohan said, “Who could have foreseen such a tragedy? Now, I await his body. What shall I tell his wife and daughters?” Rajib vowed never to work in a coal mine again.
An official explained that typical rat-hole mines extend 200 to 250 ft, with merely 2-3 ft height and 8-10 ft width, requiring workers to kneel and crawl while extracting coal with hand-held tools. The prospect of earning Rs 1,000-2,000 daily, contingent upon coal extraction quantity, attracts many to these illegal rat-hole mines despite life-threatening risks.
Juna Pradhan (21) wept upon seeing her husband Ligen Magar’s body retrieved Saturday. Magar left her with their two-month-old son to work in the coal mine to provide for his infant, Juna said. She lamented that fate denied her baby the chance to make his father proud. She, accompanied by family members, departed the mine site, encompassed by dense forest and hills, carrying Ligen’s lifeless body.