At least 18 people have been killed in an explosion at an illegal coal mine in northeast India, media reports said.
Police on Thursday recovered 18 bodies from the blast site, located in a remote part of East Jaintia Hills district, Al Jazeera reported. Eight others were injured in the incident, according to local official Manish Kumar.
The total number of workers at the site at the time of the explosion remains unclear, and some may still be trapped, police said.
He described the site as an “illegal rat-hole mine,” referring to a deep, narrow shaft where workers face hazardous conditions to extract coal and other minerals.
District police chief Vikash Kumar said dynamite likely triggered the blast, though investigations are ongoing.
“It is likely that the workers died either from burn injuries or breathing difficulties caused by toxic fumes,” Kumar said in a statement carried by The Indian Express. “Since no one has emerged from the site to provide a firsthand account, and the total number of workers present is unknown, we cannot estimate how many may still be trapped.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed condolences to the families of the deceased and announced a compensation package of 200,000 rupees ($2,216) for each family. “Pained by the mishap in East Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya,” his office wrote in a post on X.
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