INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image copyrightPriyanka BorpujariImage caption
Abdul Alim has worked in rat-hole mines for two years
Fifteen men have been trapped inside a so-called rat-hole mine in India's north-eastern state of Meghalaya since 13 December
Priyanka Borpujari spoke to a miner who left his job at the same mine days before the accident because he found it to be too dangerous
Abdul Alim believes if he had stayed, the job would have killed him
Two cousins, Omor and Shirapat Ali, are among the 15 miners who have been trapped for three weeks
Abdul, who fears they may be dead by now, stutters every time he speaks about them
Flooding blocked their exit from the rat-hole mine - named for the narrow crevices through which coal is extracted
Efforts to rescue them have made little headway - a fact that does not surprise Abdul
"Once we went down, there was hardly any light streaming in from above," he recalls
"The mines I had worked in earlier were only about 30 ft (9 metres) deep
But this was far more dangerous." It was nearly 400 ft deep
Image copyrightPriyanka BorpujariImage caption
Abdul says the depth of this mine petrified him
Abdul is
He lives in a bamboo and mud house with his wife, Anjura, in a village called Magurmari on the the western edge of Meghalaya
Parts of the hilly state are home to deposits of coal, which is extracted through deep narrow holes after first digging pits
The mines are so narrow that several agencies involved in the rescue efforts have struggled to find a way inside
After several attempts, navy divers reached the bottom of the mine on Monday
But they returned saying they did not see any of the men and that rescue could only be attempted after all the water was pumped out.Rat-hole
mining was banned in 2014
But it's still widely practised across the state, especially in the East Jaintia Hills where the men are trapped
These mines are privately owned and it is not clear how many exist
India is the world's third largest coal-producing nation and coal provides 60% of the country's energy needs
But the industry is poorly regulated
In early December, Abdul got into a taxi with his cousins and drove for 16 hours to reach Ksan, where the mine is located
Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption
Although illegal, rat-hole mining is widely practised
Abdul
first started working in coal mines about two years ago
But as a worker in the rat-hole mines, he was paid up to 30,000 rupees every month, partly reflecting the dangerous working conditions
Abdul says about 8-10 men would hop into a metal container suspended by a crane that would then be lowered into the mining pit
"Once we touched ground, the mines spread out in different directions
Each of us would crawl into one and go as far as 30 ft," he said.At this point, he gets off the bed he is sitting on and bends down to
"The mine would be this high, about two feet," he says holding his hand that high
"Our sardaar (leader) would instruct us about where to dig
We lie on our sides and chip the coal with the gaaithi (pickaxe)
I would put my pushcart just under my legs, so that the coal would fall into it
Once it fills up, I would drag it and bring it to the central assembly point." A small torch tied into place behind his ear provided the
Image copyrightGetty ImagesAbdul says a supervisor kept track of the number of workers and how often each one of them returned with a cart
This determined their wages
He would work four hours straight before taking a break
He often began work at 5am and kept working until noon
During winter, he says he preferred the warmth inside the mine to the biting cold outside
When I ask if crawling and lying on his side for such long hours affected his body, his wife, Anjura, answered
"The skin on his back has gone hard and black like leather," she says
But Abdul says: "Only my right side
Because I would lie on that side and work."Image copyrightPriyanka BorpujariImage caption
Abdul and his wife, Anjura
Usually, there are up to 200 men working shifts in a single rat hole mine
But Abdul says that the mine in Ksan faced a shortage of workers in December because many of them were from the neighbouring state of Assam
Most of Meghalaya's illegal miners are migrant labourers who come to earn better wages, but many of them went home to Assam to vote in local
elections in the first week of December
And the ones who were left behind took on more shifts
Meanwhile, Abdul who had lasted a week in the mine started to look for a way out
The work was the same as the other rat hole mines he had worked in before
But the sheer depth of this one, he says, petrified him
He told his cousins he wanted to leave but they wouldn't let him, reminding him of how much he was getting paid
"So, one afternoon, after lunch, I told my cousins that I needed to buy a belt for myself
I went to the nearest market, bought the belt and got onto the first bus I saw, and finally made it home," he said, lifting his shirt to
show the brown belt.He says he actually needed the belt
Returning to the accident, Abdul says it's possible that water from a nearby waterfall gushed into an adjacent mine
"A hole in the mine where I worked intersected with a hole in the adjoining mine and water from there probably rushed in," he says
"The supervisor warned us not to dig in that direction but some of them did not listen to him." Officials blame this and water from a nearby
Image copyrightSannio SiangshaiImage caption
Rescue officials are trying to pump out water from the mine
He adds that by the time a miner hears the water coming, it's too late to escape.He doesn't think it's likely that the men in the mine can
"To get all the water out, they would need to pump out 15 neighbouring mines simultaneously," he said
Officials have started pumping water out but say the operation will take time
Abdul left three days before the accident that has cast gloom over Magurmari: seven men from the village are trapped in the mine
He left with only his ID, abandoning clothes as well as seven days' wages
"I don't care for the money I left
I needed to save my life."
