Dhanbad Coal Mine Collapse: Locals Claim Several Feared Trapped, None Found In Rescue Ops

Soon after the incident was reported, local villagers claimed that several persons are feared trapped in the abandoned coal, but officials later said that no one was found during a rescue operation.

New Delhi: A 60-foot ‘kachcha’ road near the temporarily closed mining lease area of Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL) in Dhanbad, Jharkhand, collapsed on Thursday, April 21. The incident occurred at around 8:30 am, the Deputy Commissioner of Dhanbad said, news agency ANI reported.

Soon after the incident was reported, local villagers claimed that several persons are feared trapped in the abandoned coal, but officials later said that no one was found during a rescue operation till late evening. 

On Thursday evening, BCCL authorities launched a rescue operation in the abandoned mine but none was found during the four-hour search till 8.30 pm when they stopped the exercise, news agency PTI reported. "There was no casualty," General Manager of Chanch Victoria colliery area, AK Dutt, said.

Local villagers claimed that an area including a village road collapsed in the morning due to illegal mining and several people who were there at that time are feared trapped. Following that, a BCCL rescue team from Dhanbad was pressed into service at around 4.30 pm to look for any trapped person there.

According to reports, entering an abandoned mine is illegal but locals often go inside such mines to find coal with very less safety equipment, leading to such accidents.

Dhanbad Sub-Divisional Magistrate Prem Kumar Tiwari, who was at the spot along with other administrative and police officers during the search operation, said that there is no sign of anyone being trapped and none came forward to say that a family member is stuck in the mine.

In a similar incident, a road caved in at Dumrijor village in Chanch Victoria colliery area under Chirkunda police station last week after which traffic movement in the area was affected while the power supply was also hit.

Even in February this year, five people had lost their lives in an ECL abandoned mine collapse at Gopinathpur in Dhanbad during illegal mining. The state government had formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the incident. A report states that at least 24 lives were lost in incidents related to illegal mining at Nirsa in the last four years.

(With inputs from PTI.)