TALCHER: Search operation for three trapped miners in Bharatpur open cast coal mine continued for the second day on Thursday. The rescue team on Wednesday had retrieved one dead body from the debris following earth dump collapse at the mine belonging to Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd.
“So far, there is no trace of the missing workers from the debris of about 100 feet depth. We cannot say how long the search operation will go on to find out the bodies. Now, it will continue with machines as the NDRF teams expressed helplessness stating that they cannot do anything manually.
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The rescue operation was suspended for sometime on Thursday due to heavy downpour,” said Sub-Collector Paresh Nayak.
On Tuesday night, 13 workers belonging to a private company were working at the mine when the accident took place. While nine were rescued, four remained trapped in the debris.
Two MCL directors OP Singh and KR Basudevan are camping at Talcher and overseeing the rescue operation. Director (Technical) of Coal India also visited the site on Thursday.
Similarly, the senior officials of the Central Mines Safety department are on the spot to probe into the incident.
Describing the mishap as an unfortunate incident, CMD of MCL B N Shukla said the company will take comprehensive measures to prevent any such occurrence in the coal mines across the State. The MCL will provide all help to the injured workers, he added.
Meanwhile, local BJP unit has shut down all the eight coal mines in Talcher from Thursday afternoon demanding safety measures for workers. They also submitted a memorandum to the Sub-Collector in this regard.
“All the mines are unsafe and there is a need of safety review of all the mining sites. Unless and until the district administration certifies that the mines are safe, we will not allow these to operate,” said Kalandi Samal, State BJP secretary.