Army, NDRF, SDRF teams begin work to rescue miners from flooded Assam coal mine

Rescue teams from the Army, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have arrived at the flooded coal mine at Tin Kilo in Assam’s Dima Hasao district where at least nine workers have been feared trapped since Monday morning. Officials said that divers from the Navy were on standby.

Dima Hasao district deputy commissioner Simanta Kumar Das said that efforts to reach the trapped workers and rescue them began on Tuesday morning. He added an NDRF team with divers has gone into the mine estimated to be around 300 metres deep. “Suction machines have been deployed to try and take out the excess water.”

District disaster management officer Riki B Phukan said there has been no communication yet with the trapped miners and they do not know what their conditions were.

The Army said relief columns were rushed in from places such as Diphu in Assam and Dimapur in Nagaland to assist the civil administration in the rescue of the trapped miners. “Specialist divers, engineers, task force with equipment, medical team, and support staff from Army and Assam Rifles have joined the rescue efforts and are preparing for the rescue operation. All efforts are being made in conjunction with the civil administration,” said the Army’s Guwahati-based public relations officer Lt Col Mahender Rawat.

He added that deep divers from the Navy will join the rescue efforts as soon as they get the green signal from authorities in New Delhi.