Guwahati, Feb 14: In an extraordinary turn of events, Shyambabu Sinha, a coal mine worker from Ratabari in Assam’s Sribhumi district, returned home alive days after his family had performed his last rites, believing he had been killed in the February 5 explosion at an illegal coal mine in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills district.
Sinha, who had travelled to Meghalaya about a month ago in search of work, was employed at a coal mine in the Chutunga area of Thangskuk when a powerful blast tore through the site, killing more than 30 workers and injuring several others. When he went missing in the aftermath and no information emerged about his whereabouts, his family, acting on inputs from local sources and authorities, identified a body as his and conducted his funeral with full religious rites in Lengtarpar village under Ratabari police station.
Three days after his cremation, while post-funeral rituals were still underway, Sinha knocked on his family’s door. The shock quickly gave way to relief and celebration as it became clear that he was indeed alive. His unexpected return, however, has triggered serious questions over the identity of the body that was handed over and cremated in his name. Authorities are now under mounting pressure to determine whose remains were misidentified and how such a grave lapse occurred.
The explosion occurred at a rat-hole mine that was allegedly operating despite a 2014 ban imposed by the National Green Tribunal on the hazardous practice. The latest confirmed fatality came days after the blast, when an injured worker succumbed at a hospital in Guwahati. Search and rescue operations concluded on February 9 after officials determined that no survivors remained underground.
In response to the incident, Meghalaya Police have constituted a nine-member Special Investigation Team to examine how the mine continued to function despite the longstanding prohibition. Director General of Police Idashisha Nongrang announced that Deputy Inspector General Vivekanand S Rathore will head the team, which has been tasked with establishing the cause of the explosion, identifying violations of court and tribunal directives, and completing the probe within a fixed timeframe. The order emphasised the need for a fair, impartial and time-bound investigation to ensure justice.
So far, four arrests have been made, and authorities have seized several thousand metric tonnes of illegally extracted coal while dismantling labour camps and intensifying raids in coal-bearing areas. Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma has also announced a judicial inquiry commission to fix responsibility for the disaster.
The dramatic return of Shyambabu Sinha has brought both relief and renewed scrutiny, underscoring the human cost of illegal mining and raising urgent questions about identification protocols, enforcement failures and regulatory oversight in Meghalaya’s coal sector.
