The toll in the blast at an illegal coal mine in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills district has risen to 27, the state disaster management authority said on Saturday.
Nine persons were injured in the incident that occurred at Mynsyngat, Thangsko on Thursday morning, the state government said. The site of the explosion was located about 40 km from the district headquarters.
In a press release, the authority described the incident as a “dynamite explosion”.
Two persons have been arrested in connection with the incident.
In a press release on Friday, East Jaintia Hills Superintendent of Police Vikash Kumar had said that four more bodies were recovered by rescue personnel from the mine.
Eighteen bodies had been recovered from the site on Thursday, The Hindu reported.
“The victims are from Assam, Meghalaya, and Nepal,” the newspaper quoted Kumar as saying.
Kumar, in the press release, also said that a suo moto first information report had been filed under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita read with the Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation Act, and the Explosive Substances Act.
The two persons arrested in the matter were 36-year-old Forme Chyrmang and 42-year-old Shamehi War, the superintendent of police added. They were produced before a court and remanded to three days of police custody.
“Efforts are ongoing to identify and apprehend other accused persons involved in the case,” Kumar said. “Search, investigation and legal proceedings are continuing.”
On Thursday, the Meghalaya High Court summoned Kumar and the East Jaintia Hills deputy commissioner on February 9 in connection with the blast.
Taking suo moto cognisance of the matter, a division bench of Justices Hamarsan Sing Thangkhiew and Wanlura Diengdoh had ordered the arrest of the mine’s owner and operator.
The High Court had said that it was “not understood as to how illegal coal mining is continuing in this area in spite of the reported loss of life of one person” on January 14.
Chief Minister Conrad Sangma had earlier said that an inquiry had been ordered into the blast and promised legal action.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh for the families of those who died. The injured would be given Rs 50,000.
In 2014, the National Green Tribunal imposed a ban on rat-hole mining of coal in Meghalaya on the grounds that it was unsafe and unscientific. The rathole technique entails digging small vertical pits to reach the mineral, often making it dangerous for miners.
The tribunal, however, allowed for transportation of already-mined coal till 2017. The Supreme Court has since given more concessions to the state’s coal miners, allowing for periodic extensions of the transportation deadline.
However, critics believe that the concessions left the mining ban incomplete, allowing miners to illegally extract and ferry freshly mined coal under the guise of transporting old coal.
A 2022 report prepared by a court-appointed panel confirmed the concerns after it found that the state had overstated the quantity of coal extracted before the ban by 13 lakh metric tonnes.
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