The decomposed bodies of three more miners trapped in a coal mine in Assam's Dima Hasao district have been recovered, 44 days after they went missing in the quarry, an official said on Thursday.

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The bodies were recovered late on Wednesday evening, while two bodies were retrieved earlier in the day.

With this recovery, all the nine miners who had been trapped there on January 6 were found.

Also read: Hundreds of illegal miners trapped in abandoned South African mine, many dead

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Dewatering operation in the mine at Umrangshu has been continuing for over one month and was completed on Wednesday to a level where retrieval operations could be launched.

The highly decomposed corpses were spotted by the divers who went in and brought them out.

The bodies are yet to be identified, and the process to do so has been initiated, the official said.

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Nine workers were trapped inside the mine on January 6, and the body of one was recovered two days later, while those of three others were found on January 11.

Also read: Assam mining rescue: One body recovered, 8 miners continue to be trapped in coal mine

An ex-gratia payment of Rs 10 lakh each has been paid by the government to the next of kin of the four miners whose bodies were recovered earlier and Rs 6 lakh each to the family of those trapped inside.

The state government had announced that the families of all trapped inside the mine would be paid a total of Rs 10 lakh each.

The chief minister had earlier claimed that the mine was abandoned 12 years ago and was under the Assam Mineral Development Corporation till three years ago.

Also read: Around a dozen miners trapped in flooded coal mine in India's Assam

The state government has also announced a judicial inquiry into the incident, with retired high court judge Anima Hazarika heading the one-person committee.

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