Rescuers reported that three of the nine miners trapped after a mining accident in India's Assam state are feared dead. The region is known for illegal mines, which are notorious for their poor safety conditions and frequent accidents.

Three miners are feared dead as rescuers continue efforts to reach nine men trapped inside a coal mine in Assam, India. Authorities confirmed that the bodies of three miners have been spotted, but teams are still working to retrieve them.

The miners have been trapped since Monday, with rescue teams only able to access the site on Tuesday due to its remote location in the Umrangso area of Dima Hasao district in the northeastern state. The miners became trapped approximately 300 feet below ground level after water flooded the mine from a nearby abandoned site.

A local official stated that the flooding was likely caused by the miners accidentally hitting a water channel, which released a surge of water into the mine. Efforts to rescue the miners involve multiple agencies, including the Indian army and national and state disaster relief forces.

Assam’s Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced that divers from the navy have been called to assist, noting that the water level inside the mine has risen to nearly 100 feet. Divers from Visakhapatnam have been deployed and are expected to join the operation soon. Over 100 rescue workers are involved, and images released by the Indian military show divers in scuba gear being lowered into the mine shaft.

Reports indicate that seven of the trapped miners are from Assam, one is from West Bengal, and one is from Nepal. The location of the incident is near the state of Meghalaya, where 15 miners were killed in 2019 after an illegal mine flooded.

The coal mining industry in this region is associated with "rat hole" mines, which are small, often illegal mines prone to accidents due to unsafe working conditions. Such mines are common in India’s eastern and northeastern regions and have a history of disasters linked to poor safety standards.