Meghalaya’s dark maze of death: Inside Thangsko's rat-hole mines that killed 30

Shillong, Feb 10: With the death toll in the illegal coal mine blast in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills district rising to 30 on Tuesday, the tragedy has emerged as one of the deadliest mining accidents in the country in recent years.

The disaster has once again drawn sharp attention to the perilous conditions inside illegal rat-hole mines, with the Meghalaya High Court taking cognisance of the incident and underscoring the persistence of illegal coal mining in the region.

Rescue personnel involved in the operation, which was called off on Monday evening, described the mine network at Thangsko as a perilous underground labyrinth, where even a minor error could prove fatal.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a rescue official said the mining area resembled “a dark underworld maze” with multiple narrow passages branching into one another.

“If there is no lighting and proper safety gear, it is virtually impossible to get out. These 3–4 feet-wide openings are interconnected with hundreds of other rat-holes. One wrong move and you can be lost forever,” the official said.

The official informed that there were around seven coal shafts at the site where the accident occurred.

“These are labyrinths; no maps, no direction. One hole leads to another. The air is suffocating. Even with advanced equipment, it was extremely challenging for our teams,” he said.

According to rescue officials, some bodies were recovered from nearly 400 feet inside the rat-holes, after NDRF personnel crawled 600 feet or more into the tunnels.

“Our personnel had to crawl for hours in pitch-dark conditions,” the official added.

Coal shafts, also known as box cuts, are deep cavities, often roughly square-shaped, measuring around 10 to 15 feet in width and length.

These shafts can descend 50 to 100 feet below the surface, depending on where coal seams are found. Once a seam is located, miners dig narrow horizontal tunnels, barely wide enough for a single person, to extract coal; hence the term “rat-hole” mining.

“The rat-holes branch out in all directions. It’s possible that all seven shafts are connected underground through these tunnels, running for miles in a confusing network. It’s extremely easy to lose one’s way,” another rescue official said.

Rescue teams descended into two of the shafts used by the miners on the day of the accident. Officials said the conditions inside underscored how a single misstep in such mines could mean that trapped workers may never see daylight again.

The tragedy has renewed calls for stricter enforcement against illegal mining in Meghalaya, even as authorities and courts examine the systemic failures that allowed such dangerous operations to continue unchecked.