Three persons were killed and two others injured in a coal mine mishap in a remote village in Meghalaya's South Garo Hills district.
The three coal-miners were hurled down the mine shaft along with debris when the cables of the crane with them on board snapped midway late last Tuesday, officials said today.
The incident took place at Era Aning village when the labourers were busy digging the new mine to reach the depth where coal would be mined, district deputy commissioner C P Gotmare said.
While the injured were rushed to a civil hospital at the district headquarters, the police have registered a case against the mine owner, C D Sherpa.
The miners have been identified as A K Ashraful Hoque, Rofiqul Islam and Matu Sheikh.
This week's coal mine tragedy is the second major mine mishap in the coal belts of South Garo Hills district in less than a year resulting in the death of several coal miners.
In July last year, around 15 miners were buried alive inside their coal mine at Nengkol quarry in Rongsa Awe area of Nangalbibra when they accidently broke open a wall of a nearby abandoned coal mine which was filled with water from a nearby stream.
