East Jaintia Hills, Feb. 7 -- The death toll in Meghalaya's East Jaintia Hills coal mine blast incident has risen to 27 as two bodies were recovered during rescue operations, a National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) official said.

NDRF Commandant HPS Kandari told ANI that two bodies have been recovered.

"As per the information of the district administration, 18 bodies were recovered on February 5, four bodies were recovered on February 6 and two bodies were recovered on Saturday. Three NDRF teams are engaged in the ongoing search and rescue operations," HPS Kandari said.

Operations are underway at the blast site to rescue the trapped mine workers.

Earlier on Friday, Meghalaya Minister Lahkmen Rymbui confirmed that two persons had bee...