Naval divers look at the captured pictures of one of the 15 miners trapped in illegal rat mines since Dec. 13, in Ksan area of East Jaintia Hills. (PTI)
The body of a worker recovered from an illegal coal mine in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills district, over a month after it had collapsed, was identified as that of Amir Hussain from Assam’s Chirang district, officials confirmed on Friday.
Hussain, 30, is survived by his mother, wife and three children, aged 2, 7 and 9 years. This was his second stint in the mines. Earlier, during the summer of 2018, he went for a month and according to his family, earned around Rs 60,000.
East Jaintia Hills deputy commissioner Federick Dopth said, “The body was identified by his wife and mother. Help is being organised to transport the body to their residence after completion of all formalities.”
Noor Kalam, Hussain’s maternal uncle who accompanied his mother and his wife, told The Indian Express, “The face was disfigured and we could not identify it… But he had two tabiz (lockets) on his neck and we identified him through that. We also carried a photo of Amir and gave it to the officials here. They were convinced that it was him.” Kalam added, “We broke down on seeing the disfigured body. But, of course, there was nothing to be scared – he was our own boy, and had suffered a lot of pain. We will set off for our village once the formalities are completed.”
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Last week, Hussain’s yet-to-be-identified body was detected in the mine at a depth of 160 feet and at a lateral distance of 210 feet into the rat-hole tunnel.
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