The Indian Navy has tweeted that the body of one Meghalaya miner has been found 160-foot-deep in the rat hole mine where 15 miners were stuck since December 13.

Rat-hole mining for coal has been banned across Meghalaya by the National Green Tribunal in 2014 but non-government groups and a tribunal team have alleged that such unsafe methods of mining are still practised in Meghalaya to extract coal. Some reports cited political patronage behind the still thriving mining business.

After the mining accident in Ksan village in East Jaintia Hills, chief minister Conrad Sangma too admitted that illegal mining of coal had not stopped in the state.

In an earlier report carried by this website, a look at the assets of seven legislators had shown that all of them owned heavy vehicles and had been involved in mining. All the legislators, cutting across party lines, said that they had stopped coal mining. Their 2018 election affidavits showed that they continue to own the trucks, tippers and excavators that are usually used in mining work.

The Supreme Court recently halted transport of old coal from Meghalaya till February 19 after the case on the missing miners was brought before it.