The ‘sardar’ of workers of the coal mine in Assam’s Dima Hasao district, where eight miners remained trapped, was arrested, even as a dewatering exercise continued in the quarry to facilitate the resumption of rescue operations, police said on Friday. The fate of the trapped miners appeared to be grim with personnel involved in the rescue operations racing against time to bring them out of the ill-fated quarry, while the body of one labourer, hailing from Nepal, has been recovered from there, an official said.
“The ‘sardar’ (head) of the miners, who had fled the quarry site soon after the incident on January 6, was arrested on Thursday night from a place after an extensive search operation. This is the second arrest in connection with the case,” said a senior officer who did not divulge the place of arrest.