10 miners killed in coal mine collapse
ranchi — Ten bodies were recovered from a caved-in coal mine while a search to rescue several others continued in Jharkhand’s Godda district on Thursday night, officials said on Friday.
The tragedy occurred at the Rajmahal Opencast Project of Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL).
“So far nine bodies have been recovered while two persons have been hospitalised with injuries. Rescue and search operations are on to find other workers who might be trapped,” ECL General Manager (Mining) R.R. Amitabh said.
“All 10 excavators and dump trucks have been extracted from the mine,” added Amitabh.
Jharkhand Director General of Police D.K. Pandey said over 20 workers were feared to be trapped inside the collapsed mine.
The incident, described by the ECL as “unprecedented”, occurred around 7.30pm on Thursday. workers were feared to be trapped inside the collapsed mine
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi expressed grief over the tragedy. Modi spoke to Chief Minister Raghubar Das to take stock of the situation and said that the Jharkhand government and Union Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal were working to restore normalcy.
While a probe has been ordered, the ECL has announced an ex-gratia compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the families of those killed, in addition to the amount to be paid under the Workmen’s Compensation Act. —