PATNA: With five more bodies extracted on Saturday from the debris at the coalmine in Jharkhand’s Godda district that collapsed on Thursday evening, the number of dead miners rose to 16 and tension
gripped the site as angry mine workers protested at the mishap site.
Nearly 30 people working at the Pahadia Bhodaye mine in Rajmahal Opencast Project of Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) at the time of collapse are still missing. They are feared to have been trapped
under massive heaps of soil some 200 feet below. NDRF personnel engaged in rescue operations said there is now little chance of any of the trapped miners being alive.
Dozens of mine workers shouting slogans against the ECL management and officials of Mahalaxmi Company, the mining executing agency, took an ECL manager, Pramod Kumar, into custody and confined him in a room for about an hour. Kumar was released after local police intervened.
Although ECL officials said nearly 35 workers were inside the mine when it collapsed, sources said there were at least 85 workers engaged in mining work and that they were made to work despite warning by
a safety official just a day ago.
Since the area where the mine is located has no mobile phone connectivity, the local people came to know of the mishap about 10 PM on Thursday though it happened at about 8 PM, said sources.
“Rescue operation continues at the site in a systematic manner. Extra care is being taken to ensure the massive debris does not fall,” said Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, chairperson and managing director of ECL and WCL. He declined to comment on alleged compromise in safety standards as the reason behind the mishap. ECL sources said Director General of Mines Safety (DGMS) Rahul Guha has been asked to submit a preliminary probe report in two days.
Mining workers and local people looking for the missing men alleged that officials of Mahalaxmi Company, to which mining work was outsourced, and the transport agency fled the site immediately after
the mine caved in. Former chief minister and JVM(P) leader Babulal Marandi demanded immediate arrest of officials of ECL and the private companies engaged in mining for their failure to protect the lives of workers.