Meghalaya: Body recovered from abandoned coal mine in East Jaintia Hills
By NE NOW NEWS
Guwahati: An unidentified body was recovered from a water-filled abandoned coal mine in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills district on Sunday, officials said.
According to police, information about the body was received on Friday from the headman of Moolait Bri Sumer village after the corpse was spotted inside the abandoned mine.
Following the information, police reached the spot and conducted a preliminary inquiry, confirming that the body was submerged in the abandoned pit.
Officials said attempts to retrieve the body on Saturday were unsuccessful because of the depth of the mine and difficult conditions inside the pit.
On Sunday, a joint team of Meghalaya Police and the State Disaster Response Force carried out a rescue operation and recovered the body at around 11 a.m.
East Jaintia Hills Superintendent of Police Pankaj Rasgania said the identity of the deceased had not yet been established and an investigation was underway.
Officials said East Jaintia Hills alone has more than 22,000 abandoned coal pits, many of them deep and unfenced, posing serious safety risks to local residents and workers.