UDAYAPUR, Feb 11: The bodies of three youths from Khotang, who died in a coal mine explosion in Meghalaya, India, on February 5, were cremated in Shillong, police said, citing the victims’ families.
The victims—27-year-old Purniram Khapangi Magar, his younger brother, 24-year-old Surendra Khapangi Magar, both from Salghari, Barahapokhari Rural Municipality–1, and 35-year-old Narbahadur Khapangi Magar from Bhanjyang—lost their lives in an explosion at an illegal coal mine.
Family members who rushed to India immediately after the tragedy reached the site three days later, but legal and logistical hurdles prevented them from bringing the bodies back to Nepal. Frustrated at the lack of urgency from both the Indian and Nepali governments, the families ultimately held the cremations Monday night at Bhalupara, Shillong, according to the victims’ relative, Prakash Khapangi Magar, cited by the Khotang District Police Office.
Meghalaya coal mine blast: Two youths from Khotang killed, four...
Prakash said the bodies were badly burned in the blast, making transport to Nepal impractical and legally complicated, prompting the decision to cremate them in India.
In the same incident, 50-year-old Ratna Rai from Halesi Tuwachung Municipality–5, Durchim, Khotang, remains missing. He had traveled to Meghalaya for work in late September and is presumed dead. Colleagues reported that he had entered the mine during the explosion, and only his citizenship certificate, diary, and mobile phone were recovered. The family has begun the funeral rites for him according to Kirat tradition.
Four others were seriously injured in the blast: Karnbahadur Khapangi (47), Bamba Bahadur Khapangi (40), and Dawa Sherpa (48) from Barahapokhari Rural Municipality–1, and Lalit Bahadur Lungeli from Triyuga Municipality–14. They are receiving treatment at Nilgreen Hospital in Siliguri, Meghalaya.
The seven-member team had traveled together from Barahapokhari in search of work, arriving in Meghalaya on December 18. With three members from the same household and village losing their lives in a single incident, the community of Barahapokhari is in deep mourning. Locals said the parents, Khadga Bahadur and Tankakumari Khapangi, were in shock and nearly collapsed upon seeing the graves of their children together.
One member of the team, Tarabal Magar from Barahapokhari Rural Municipality–1, survived because he was outside the mine at the time of the explosion and informed the families via phone, police said.
