HT Digital
GUWAHATI, Feb 20: The Umrangso coal mine disaster, which occurred on January 6, 2025, has finally come to an end as the last five trapped miners’ decomposed bodies were retrieved.
The progress was updated by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on his X handle. He posted, “Today, the dewatering of the Umrangso mines was done to a point where retrieval operations could be initiated. The mortal remains of the remaining 5 miners have been recovered and retrieved from the mine shaft. The identification process of the remains has been initiated.”
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The catastrophe occurred when as many as nine workers got stuck in a flooded rat-hole mine close to Kalamati in the Umrangso belt of the Dima Hasao district. Their being stuck caused a massive rescue operation, which continued for weeks and saw several agencies working day and night under difficult circumstances.
Over fifty rescuers, comprising members of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), local police (GR), and the Army, were sent to retrieve the bodies. The rescue operation began on January 7, and even though they encountered extreme challenges owing to the flooded and dangerous conditions within the mine, the teams did not lose heart.
Their concerted efforts led to the successful recovery of all the bodies of the trapped miners, ending the crisis on a gloomy note.
After the recovery of the bodies, the rescue authorities asked the families of the dead miners to identify their kin.
