When 22-year-old Sayeb Ali entered a deep coal mine in Meghalaya in the early hours of December 13, he was worried. He had seen and reported the seepage in the mine a couple of days earlier to the labourers' sardar or manager. As he left the mine with his load of coal, he heard the gush of water and knew the seepage had become a deadly flood. He is the lone eyewitness who last saw the 15 men who remain trapped deep inside the illegal "rat hole" mine.
