: Suspected inhalation of toxic gas killed three labourers in an illegal rat-hole coal mine in eastern Assam’s Tinsukia district, police said Tuesday, September 20, 2022.
A rat-hole mine is a deep vertical shaft with several horizontal tunnels big enough to let a slightly-built person to crouch and work with a pickaxe.
Debojit Deuri, Tinsukia’s Superintendent of Police said the incident happened at night on September 18 in a remote place near Ledo where a Coal India Limited subsidiary conducts mining operations.