At least nine workers are trapped inside a flooded coal mine in northeast India, with at least three feared dead.
Rescue teams were working to locate the miners who became trapped in the Dima Hasao district of Assam state on Monday morning.
They have spotted three bodies but have not yet recovered them, the local government said.
“The well is about 150ft deep, of which almost 100ft is filled with water,” said local minister Kaushik Rai.
“Three teams have attempted to enter it since morning and have managed to go as far as 30 to 35ft.”
The mine is in an area controlled by the state government and appears to be illegal, according to Assam’s chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who added one person had been arrested in connection with the accident.
Workers at the site said over a dozen miners had been trapped inside after water from a nearby unused mine began to fill the mine, with some miners managing to escape.
“They [the miners] probably hit some water channel and water came out and flooded it,” said Mayank Kumar, district police chief in Dima Hasao.
The army said it had deployed divers, helicopters and engineers to aid in the rescue efforts.
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Teams lowered divers in a container using a pulley into a large shaft leading to the mine, with photos showing rescue workers with ropes, cranes and other equipment on site.
Accidents in illegal “rat hole” mines in the remote northeastern part of India are frequent.
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In 2019, at least 15 miners were buried while working in an illegal mine which flooded in the neighbouring state of Meghalaya.
