NEW DELHI (Sputnik) — More than 30 miners are feared to be trapped under the ground in Jharkhand’s Godda district, the outlet said. It cited police as saying the accident took place during a shift change on Thursday night. Darkness and fog prevented rescue efforts from beginning at once.
झारखंड के गोड्डा जिले में खदान धंसी, 40 मजदूर दबे pic.twitter.com/bemoln3TDI
— Prabhat Khabar (@prabhatkhabar) 30 декабря 2016 г.
Local officials at the site fear the death toll may be higher as many workers are trapped deep inside the mine run by a state-owned subsidiary of world's largest coal mining company.
The mines in the area are being run for the past 10 years run by the state-owned Eastern Coal Field company.
"Rescuers pulled out five bodies of workers trapped in the mine so far. Rescue operation is still on," Sanjay Singh, general manager of the Rajmahal Opencast Project, told the Hindustan Times newspaper.The company has announced a hand-holding compensation of $ 7,340 to each family of the dead worker in addition to the amount to be paid under the Workmen's Compensation Act.
The company has announced a hand-holding compensation of $ 7,340 to each family of the dead worker in addition to the amount to be paid under the Workmen's Compensation Act.
"Prima facie, it is observed that the incidence is unprecedented, since an area of 300 m length by 110 m wide solid floor of the Over Burden dump area has slid down by about 35 m involving around 9.5 million cubic meters of earth material. This could be due to failure of the bench edge along the hidden fault line/slip," said India's Ministry of Mines.
#Lalmatia Landslide: 4 labourers have been rescued and admitted to Hoptl in Mahagama; one is seriously injured. 1/n pic.twitter.com/TPfJv1RR7n
— NDMA India (@ndmaindia) 30 декабря 2016 г.
A probe has been ordered by the Director General of Mines Safety and a High Level Committee of Experts has been constituted by Coal India Limited to investigate into the causes of the accident.
Sources told Sputnik that the project site engineer had warned senior officials about a crack in the mine which made it dangerous for further mining. But his warning was ignored and after a brief stoppage, works again resumed to meet the federal mining targets.
Sources recalled an incident happened at the same site six month back with a drilling machine. It is being said that local officials across mines in India are winking at safety norms to meet the pressure for mining more coal.
