2 miners found dead in another illegal coal mine in Meghalaya

Shillong: Bodies of two miners were recovered from an illegal coal mine located at a remote village in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills district, police said on Monday.

The bodies were recovered late on Saturday from the coal mine in Jalyiah village, a few kilometers away from the district headquarters of Khliehriat, they added.

“Acting on a missing person complaint lodged by Philip Bareh on Friday, the police conducted a search in the village and recovered the body of Elad Bareh.The body was found near the entrance of the coal mine,” Superintendent of Police (SP) of East Jaintia Hills district Sylvester Nongtynger told PTI.

On searching a little deeper, another body was found, the SP said, adding that the deceased was identified as M Basumatary.

The bodies were recovered almost a month after 15 miners were reported trapped in another illegal coal mine located about 40 km away at Khloo-Ryngksan, highlighting that illegal coal mining continued despite the National Green Tribunal (NGT) ban on unsafe mining since 2014.

A preliminary probe revealed that the two miners had died after boulders hit them while extracting coal, the SP said, adding that the police were trying to trace the owner of the mine. He also said eight persons were arrested from different locations for allegedly violating the NGT ban on mining.