A second body, believed to be of one of the 15 miners trapped inside a flooded coal mine in Meghalaya’s East Jaiñtia Hills since December 13, was detected in a rat-hole of the main shaft at 3am on Saturday.

East Jaintia Hills deputy commissioner F.M. Dopth said the body was detected in the rat hole, laterally 280ft away from the bottom of the main shaft.

The detection by the navy’s underwater remotely operated vehicle came hours after the first body retrieved from the coal mine at Ksan was identified by the miner’s family members on Friday as that of Amir Hussain, 35, of Assam’s Chirang district.

Hussain’s body was detected, also by the remotely operated vehicle, on January 16 but was retrieved on January 24.

His wife and mother were able to identify him from the tabeez (amulet) worn by him. The miner’s face was beyond recognition.

On Saturday morning, Hussain’s mortal remains were sent to Chirang from Khliehriat, the district headquarters of East Jaiñtia Hills.

Hussain is survived by his wife and three children.

The mine tragedy was mentioned by governor Tathagata Roy during the Republic Day function at Polo Ground in Shillong on Saturday.

“Before concluding, I want to take a moment to underscore that the government is deeply pained by the tragic incident involving the 15 trapped miners at Ksan in East Jaiñtia Hills district. Despite the challenging circumstances, the government is continuing with the operations in collaboration with various agencies. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the miners,” Roy said.

Official spokesman R. Susngi said dewatering of coal mines was still on and pumps of Coal India Limited pumped out 45,90,000 litres of water from two old shafts from Friday evening till Saturday evening.