Efforts were underway to rescue more workers feared trapped, the police said.<\/b>
\nAt least 16 workers were killed in a suspected dynamite blast at an allegedly unauthorised coal mine in Meghalaya\u2019s East Jaintia Hills district on Thursday, an official told Scroll.
One person with burn injuries had been sent to Shillong for treatment, East Jaintia Hills Superintendent of Police Vikash Kumar told Scroll.
\u201cWe are unable to tell the exact number of workers trapped inside because of smoke and fire,\u201d Vikash Kumar said.
The National Disaster Response Force and the State Disaster Response Force \u201care trying to rescue them\u201d, he said, adding that the workers are \u201clocals and non-locals\u201d.
The incident occurred at Thangsko under the Khliehriat police station area, which is in the Sutnga Elaka region of the district. The site is located about 40 km from the district headquarters.
Manish Kumar, the deputy commissioner of East Jaintia Hills, told Scroll that the unauthorised mine is located in a \u201cvery remote area\u201d.
The incident is being investigated, Manish Kumar added.
In 2014, the National Green Tribunal imposed a ban on rat-hole mining of coal in Meghalaya on the grounds that it was unsafe and unscientific. The rathole technique entails digging small vertical pits to reach the mineral, often making it dangerous for miners.
The tribunal, however, allowed for transportation of already-mined coal till 2017. The Supreme Court has since given more concessions to the state\u2019s coal miners, allowing for periodic extensions of the transportation deadline.
However, critics believe that the concessions left the mining ban incomplete, allowing miners to illegally extract and ferry freshly mined coal under the guise of transporting old coal.
A 2022 report prepared by a court-appointed panel confirmed the concerns after it found that the state had overstated the quantity of coal extracted before the ban by 13 lakh metric tonnes.
Also read: A new report calls the bluff on Meghalaya\u2019s coal mining ban \u2013 with data<\/p>\n