Five dead, 20 hurt in illegal mine collapse in Jharkhand

DHANBAD: Five persons died, while at least 20 others were injured when an illegal coal mine caved in the wee hours of Saturday.

The incident occurred next to the Kabribad opencast mine of the Central Coalfields Limited (CCL) under Muffassil police station in Jharkhand’s Giridih district. The place is barely four kilometers from the district headquarters and around 214km from capital Ranchi.

Those injured in the incident are undergoing treatment at different private nursing homes in the city.

Police said, the incident occurred close on the heels of another disaster on May 24 in neighbouring coal hub — Jharia, where Babloo Khan,40, a mechanic by profession, and his teenage son Rahim Khan, disappeared into the earth as it subsided where they were standing.

Giridih police that reached

Simariadhora village around 9am after getting the information, retrieved all the bodies from the rubble with the help of locals who volunteered and extended all support. The deceased have been identified as Mohammed Qurban aka Munna (35), Mohammed Shamim (50), Mohammed Zahid (23), Mohammed Enamul aka Raja (23) and Mohammed Chhote (24), all locals.

Subdivisional police officer Manish Toppo, who reached the village following the incident, said, “The villagers were digging an illegal mine without caring for safety norms. Appropriate legal action would be taken against the families of those who risked their lives digging the mine. The bodies have been sent to the Sadar Hospital for autopsy and would be handed over to the family members soon.”

He said the illegal openings were part of the opencast mine of the CCL.

“Rampant illegal mining of coal from these illegal openings is on since last several years. The coal produced here is sent to different steel re-rolling mills, hard coke units, besides other industries in the district,” the SDPO said.

Toppo said police had been taking several steps to check illegal mining in areas in cooperation with the CCL officials.

Local INTUC leader, RK Mishra has held the CCL management responsible for the incident.

“Two major accidents have taken place in the illegal openings in as many months, but the management has remained a mute spectator,” he said.