<p class="p1"><span class="s1">KABUL (Pajhwok):</span><span class="s2"> At least 18 people have been killed in an explosion at an illegal coal mine in northeast India, media reports said.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s2">Police on Thursday recovered 18 bodies from the blast site, located in a remote part of East Jaintia Hills district, Al Jazeera reported. Eight others were injured in the incident, according to local official Manish Kumar. </span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s2">The total number of workers at the site at the time of the explosion remains unclear, and some may still be trapped, police said.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s2">He described the site as an “illegal rat-hole mine,” referring to a deep, narrow shaft where workers face hazardous conditions to extract coal and other minerals.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s2">District police chief Vikash Kumar said dynamite likely triggered the blast, though investigations are ongoing.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s2">“It is likely that the workers died either from burn injuries or breathing difficulties caused by toxic fumes,” Kumar said in a statement carried by </span><span class="s3">The Indian Express</span><span class="s2">. “Since no one has emerged from the site to provide a firsthand account, and the total number of workers present is unknown, we cannot estimate how many may still be trapped.”</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s2">Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed condolences to the families of the deceased and announced a compensation package of 200,000 rupees ($2,216) for each family. “Pained by the mishap in East Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya,” his office wrote in a post on X.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s2">sa</span></p>
