Several workers are stuck in an Indian coal mine in Assam

Authorities in the north-east Indian state of Assam announced Monday that the state has asked the army to help with rescue efforts after several miners are thought to be trapped inside a coal mine in a remote area.

Authorities were “ascertaining the exact number of people trapped,” Assam Director General of Police GP Singh told Reuters as rescue efforts continued Monday evening.

According to the input, numbers would currently be in single digits. He declared, “The State Disaster Response Force has been called into action.”

The mine is located in the highland Dima Hasao district of Assam, in a secluded environment. According to local media, water trapped the miners.

“We’ve asked the Army to help in the current rescue effort. In order to support the operations, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) are also en route to the scene of the tragedy,” Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on X.

The administrative head (Deputy Commissioner) and superintendent of police (SP) for the Dima Hasao district were in route to the location.

“Difficult to reach” and “remote” is how Dima Hasao SP Mayank Kumar Jha described the region to Reuters.

In the isolated northeastern region of India, accidents involving coal mines are not unusual. One of the worst tragedies occurred in 2019, when water from a nearby river inundated an illegal mine in the neighboring state of Meghalaya, burying at least 15 miners who were working there.