CORRESPONDENT
SHILLONG: An unidentified body was recovered from a deep, water-filled abandoned coal mine pit at Moolait Bri Sumer in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills district on Sunday afternoon following a difficult retrieval operation carried out jointly by the police and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), raising fresh concerns over the continued existence of hazardous abandoned rat-hole mining sites in the region.
Police said the body was first spotted floating inside the inundated mine pit on Saturday, but the recovery operation was delayed due to the considerable depth of the pit, the accumulation of water and the treacherous terrain surrounding the area. Rescue personnel were engaged for several hours before the body could finally be brought out around noon on Sunday.
Confirming the recovery, East Jaintia Hills Superintendent of Police Pankaj Kumar Rasgania said, “The body was recovered by Police with the assistance of SDRF team. The legal procedure is being followed....Body is being sent for Post-mortem.”
Authorities said the identity of the deceased was yet to be established and the exact circumstances leading to the death remained unclear. Police stated that further investigation would be initiated after the completion of legal formalities and the post-mortem examination.
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