A miner, whose body was retrieved from a 370-foot deep coal mine in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills district after over 40 days of getting trapped, has been identified as Amir Hussain of Assam’s Chirang district, officials said on Friday.
In a joint operation, the Indian Navy and the National Disaster Response Force pulled the body out of the mine’s shaft on Thursday, nine days after it was spotted. “The body retrieved yesterday from Ksan has been identified as Amir Hussain of Chirang district in Assam,” East Jaintia Hills District Deputy Commissioner F M Dopth said. The body was identified by his wife and mother who arrived in Khliehriat, the district headquarter, earlier on Friday, he said.
Dopth said the authorities were trying to help the family in transporting Hussain’s remains for the last rites. Hussain is one of the 15 miners who got trapped on December 13. The incident drew the nation’s attention to illegal coal mining in the State at the cost of human lives despite NGT ban.