Four labourers from Assam and one from Tripura were feared trapped after a dynamite blast led to the flooding of a coal mine in the East Jaintia Hills district of Meghalaya.
The mine has been identified at Sutnga interior, under Umpleng Anti-Dacoity camp and search operations are on," Meghalaya Police said..
Hazardous rat-hole coal mining is not permitted in Meghalaya after the National Green Tribunal banned it in 2014.
As per the eye-witnesses, the sudden explosion of dynamite led to a rush of water which flooded the mine within minutes and five miners got trapped.