The body of a second worker trapped in a flooded ‘rat hole’ coal mine in Assam’s Dima Hasao district was recovered on Saturday, officials said, as rescue operations entered their sixth day.

The deceased, identified as 27-year-old Lijen Magar from Kalamati village, was among nine workers trapped inside the quarry in Umrangso on January 6 after a sudden surge of water inundated the abandoned mine near the Assam-Meghalaya border.

Officials had said that the body of another worker, Ganga Bahadur Srestho from Nepal, was retrieved on Wednesday.

“The rescue operations resumed this morning, and one more body was recovered. The search for the remaining trapped miners continues,” an official said, adding that challenges persist due to the flooded conditions inside the mine.

Efforts to drain the 340-foot-deep quarry have been ongoing since Thursday, using specialised equipment from ONGC and Coal India. Divers from the Army and Navy have yet to access the submerged sections of the mine due to difficulties in mapping the flooded interior.

“Oxygen and artificial light have been provided for the trapped miners. Only if the water is pumped out of the wells can we expect some results,” said Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

He added that additional machinery, brought in from Nagpur, was set to begin operations on Saturday evening.

The mine, abandoned 12 years ago, had been under the jurisdiction of the Assam Mineral Development Corporation until three years ago.

Authorities have arrested two individuals in connection with the incident. Miner leader Hanan Laskar, who fled the site immediately after the flooding, was nabbed on Thursday night in Umrangso. Earlier, the leaseholder of the mine, Punish Nunisa, was detained on Tuesday.

With PTI inputs