CM Conrad Sangma orders inquiry
At least 18 miners were confirmed dead and one seriously injured in one of Meghalaya’s deadliest illegal mining disasters.
The tragic incident occurred on Thursday morning in Mynsngat Thangkso area under East Jaintia Hills district following a massive dynamite explosion inside the illegal rat-hole coal mine.
The State government has ordered a “comprehensive inquiry” into the tragic coal mine incident, chief minister Conrad Sangma said.
“Accountability will be fixed, and those responsible will face strict legal action. There will be no compromise when it comes to the safety of lives,” Sangma assured.
Sangma also extended his deepest sympathies with the families who have lost their loved ones in this unfortunate tragedy. “In this moment of sorrow, the State stands in solidarity with all those affected,” he said.
SP of East Jaintia Hills, Vikash Kumar, confirmed that it was a dynamite blast that occurred at the illegal coal mine in Mynsngat Thangkso area.
Police have registered a case under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act related to the incident.
“A total of 18 bodies have been retrieved so far from the illegal coal mine. One person with burn injuries has been shifted to Shillong for treatment,” Kumar said
Meanwhile, a team of National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force and Fire and Emergency Service have been requisitioned from Shillong and Assam to assist in the search and rescue operation.
Forensic experts and bomb disposal squads were deployed to the site to analyse the cause of the explosion.
Officials maintain that the death toll could rise, as more are feared to be trapped inside the mine. Rescue operations were suspended due to darkness and are scheduled to resume on Friday.
This is the second highest number of deaths reported from an illegal coal mining activity in Meghalaya. The previous highest death toll from such a tragic incident was in December 13, 2018 when 17 miners, mostly from Assam, were killed when the 370-foot depth illegal coal mine they were working in at Ksan area in East Jaintia Hills got submerged.
Sources said that the miners this morning entered inside the coal mine, called a box cutting (a vertical cavity dug several 100 feet where miners go down and then move horizontally) and started digging at the coal seams with rudimentary tools.
During this course of horizontal movement inside the box cutting, the miners also used explosives (a traditional and highly risky method) to blast the coal seams for faster extraction of coal. It was during one such operation that the uncontrolled explosion killed the miners and subsequent inferno caused the tragedy.
Incidentally, Mynsngat Thangkso is the same area where two miners had died in a similar illegal coal mine on December 23, 2025. One of the miners reportedly died on December 23 and the other miner named Ashok Tamang died at the Shillong Civil hospital on January 1.
The National Green Tribunal had in April 2014 banned the hazardous rat-hole coal mining in Meghalaya due to its illegal, unscientific nature and harm to the environment and have caused the loss of lives of many miners.
Justice (retired) Brojendra Prasad Katakey, who has been appointed by the Meghalaya High Court, to monitor coal-related issues, had said that illegal coal mining and transportation is continuing in the State, despite government’s assurance of stopping such illegal activities.
The state government had assured it would conduct a survey of the area and sanitise it from such illegal activities and also submitted a report to the Katakey committee probing such illegal mining activities. Meanwhile, Katakey is scheduled to visit the blast site on Friday morning to take stock of the situation.