Three of the nine men inside were feared dead, Reuters reported, after the state government said rescue teams had spotted some bodies they have been unable to reach.

The men were trapped on Monday morning after water flooded the rat-hole mine, which is a narrow hole dug manually to extract coal.

Despite a ban on such mining in India since 2014, small illegal mines continue to be operational in Assam and other north-eastern states.

Divers, helicopters and engineers have been deployed to help rescue the trapped men and the state and national disaster response forces are also aiding efforts.

On Monday evening, Assam Director General of Police GP Singh had said that authorities were ascertaining the exact number of people trapped.

Reports said more than a dozen miners had managed to escape and initial reports suggested that the “numbers would be in single digits”.

The mine is located in the hilly area of Dima Hasao district.Senior police official in the district, Mayank Kumar Jha, told Reuters that the area was very “remote” and “difficult to reach”.

Mine-related disasters are not uncommon in India’s northeast.In December 2018, at least 15 men were trapped in an illegal mine in the neighbouring state of Meghalaya after water from a nearby river flooded it.

Five miners managed to escape but the rescue efforts for the others continued until the first week of March the following year. Only two bodies were recovered.

In January 2024, six workers were killed after a fire broke out in a rat-hole coal mine in Nagaland state.