Four coal miners killed in Meghalaya

Four coal miners were buried alive when walls of a 50-meter deep pit collapsed in Gare Gittim area in East Garo Hills district of Meghalaya, police said today.
The four miners died when they were busy extracting coal in the private coal mine on Tuesday, Superintendent of Police, J F K Marak said, adding the incident was reported to the police very late resulting in delayed retrieval operation.
While three miners were migrant labourers from Assam, the fourth victim was a local. They were identified as Ratna Barman (38), Debokantho Barman (32), Bishwanath Barman (30) and Piterson Marak.
The mine owner Renzi Lama Sherpa has been called for questioning by police.

At least 100 miners have died in the past three years in the state due to various mine mishaps, the worst being the accident in South Garo Hills in 2012 when 15 miners drowned inside the coal pit after water from a nearby stream gushed in. Their bodies were never found.