A large number of mine workers feared dead as they got trapped under debris after a coal mine regulated under the Eastern Coalfields Limited collapsed in Lal Matia area of Godda district late on Thursday night.
The incident took place on the evening of Thursday at around 7:45 pm. Over two dozen people are feared to be trapped along with several vehicles.
The incident happened when the work of extracting coal from the coal mines was going on. Suddenly, 100 to 150 meters of soil, like a huge mountain, fell on the dozen of mining vehicles in the deep mine area.
Notably, it took hours to the rescue team to reach the spot and rescue operation started quite late. The incident occurred during the shift change late in the evening as per the local reports.
Currently, there is no official statement on how many machines, vehicles and people are being trapped. Relief and rescue operations are already under process and the injured were sent to the nearby hospitals.
The officials faced difficulty in the rescue operation as there was a power cut due to sliding. Most of the things, especially the number of casualties will only become clear as the relief and rescue operations proceed further.
Well, this is not first such incident. As per a report in local media, around six months ago a drill machine submerged in the soil. It seems that the concern authorities took no lessons from the previous incident.
As per the official, the numbers of trapped vehicles were around eight or 10, but, some people are also saying that the number could be two to three times higher.
The exact extent of the loss was yet to be gauged.
