Two Bangladeshi nationals were arrested in Meghalaya's West Jaintia Hills district for entering India without valid travel documents. A local driver was also apprehended for allegedly facilitating their illegal entry.
The tragedy highlights the dangers of unregulated mining operations in the region. Rescue efforts continued as families mourned the loss, and authorities worked to locate missing miners amid the disaster.
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma has announced a judicial inquiry into the recent blast at an illegal coal mine in East Jaintia Hills district, which resulted in the deaths of 27 people.
At least 16 labourers were killed and several others are feared trapped following an explosion at an illegal coal mine in Meghalaya's East Jaintia Hills district. Rescue operations are underway.
The human cost of rat-hole mining falls disproportionately on migrant labourers.
One person was killed and several others injured in a clash between two groups over paddy harvesting in Assam's West Karbi Anglong district along the border with Meghalaya. Tensions have been high over land ownership, leading to violence despite attempts at resolution.
Around 400 people of Lapangap and other villages, backed by members of several social organisations of Meghalaya, went to the plantation area, uprooted the saplings and burnt the wooden structure around 11 am, claiming that Assam was trying to encroach into their state by carrying out the plantation.
He clarified that though China has not announced any such move, but even if it happens, it would in fact help mitigate the annual Assam floods.
Raja and his wife Sonam disappeared on May 23 hours after they checked out of a homestay at Nongriat village, 20 km from where his body was found, they said.
National Disaster Response Force personnel on Tuesday joined the search for a missing tourist from Indore a day after her husband's body was found in a gorge in Sohra area of Meghalaya's East Khasi Hills district, police said.
'If inner line permit was in place in Meghalaya, the details of the three people who allegedly murdered Raja would have been on record.'
A state government that came to power after swearing to protect all people without discrimination refused to help a non-Christian organisation till the high court rapped it on its knuckles, observes former BJP MP Tarun Vijay, former Chief Editor, Panchjanya, the RSS weekly.
A fresh clash occurred at a disputed village along the Assam-Meghalaya interstate boundary as locals from both sides used bows and arrows and catapults to attack each other, officials said on Wednesday.
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Post-poll violence that erupted in at least three assembly constituencies in Meghalaya left several people injured, while one person was found dead in a mysterious circumstance, officials said on Friday.
Four persons, including a forest guard, were killed in violence at the Assam-Meghalaya border in West Karbi Anglong district in the early hours of Tuesday after a truck transporting illegal timber was intercepted, officials said.
Surface links to Assam's Barak Valley and Dima Hasao district and to neighbouring states of Tripura, Mizoram and Manipur remained snapped on Tuesday as incessant rains triggered landslides and washed off roads as well as railway tracks in multiple locations of Assam and Meghalaya.
Vehicles from Assam are now allowed to enter Meghalaya, a senior police officer said.
Against the backdrop of the violent clashes with villagers from Meghalaya, the Assam cabinet on Wednesday decided to hand over the investigation to CBI, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Thursday said Union Home Minister Amit Shah has given firm assurances at a meeting held in Delhi of acting on his request for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the 'firing by Assam Police' along the states' border.
The apex body of petroleum workers in Assam on Thursday said it has stopped transportation of fuel to Meghalaya, following reports of attacks on vehicles from Assam in the backdrop of violence along the inter-state border that left six people dead.
Dismissing his Assam counterpart's claim, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Tuesday asserted in the assembly that Mukroh village on the disputed inter-state border, where a violent clash claimed six lives last year, is a part of the hill state.
Susngi said there was slight dip in the water level in the mine shaft, but it was not significant enough.
A preliminary probe revealed that the two miners had died after boulders hit them while extracting coal, the SP said, adding that the police were trying to trace the owner of the mine.
Restrictions under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) continued to be imposed in the clash site and surrounding areas, they said.
The officials said the body was spotted at a depth of more than 200 feet inside the "rat-hole" mine and naval divers brought it to its mouth.
Justice S R Sen also wants Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, Christians, Khasis, Jaintias and Garos who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to be made Indian citizens without any questions. Aashish Aryan/Business Standard reports.
The Navy wanted to ascertain the water level as their divers can operate up to 100 feet in a closed container-type situation, a district official said.
The 36 villages cover a 36.9 sq km area, while the 30 villages are spread over 18 sq km area, he said.
The body, located 200 feet away from the bottom of the mine, was brought out using the Indian Navy's underwater remotely operated vehicle and an National Disaster Response Force boat on Wednesday, said operations spokesman R Susngi.
Just two days after recording 811.6 mm of rainfall in a day, Cherrapunji in Meghalaya received a bountiful 972 mm of precipitation in 24 hours ending 8.30 am on Friday, the highest in June since 1995 and the third highest in 122 years, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
The body has been detected inside the 370-foot-deep coal mine in Meghalaya's East Jaintia Hills district,
However, the National Disaster Response Force, which has been engaged in the rescue operation since the day of the tragedy on December 13 last, will continue with their services.
Vlogger Gaurav Taneja shares some of his most interesting discoveries and learnings from his recent trip to Meghalaya.
The Congress chief accused Modi of instead posing for cameras and strutting on the Bogibeel bridge on the mighty Brahmaputra river in neighbouring Assam after inaugurating it on Tuesday.
Two teams of the National Disaster Response Force consisting of over 60 personnel reached on Friday morning, while 12 personnel from the State Disaster Response Force are already at the site.
On skeletons being seen by the Navy team, the sources said the water inside the mines has high Sulphur content which can decompose the bodies very fast.
A bench comprising Justices A K Sikri and S Abdul Nazeer asked the Meghalaya government as to why it was not successful in rescuing these people.
The 15-member team, equipped with specialised diving equipment including a re-compression chamber and remotely operated vehicles capable of searching underwater, went straightway to the mine site in the remote Lumthari village in East Jaintia Hills district.
Each of Assam's border disputes has its own legacy of claims and counter-claims:
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