RANCHI: One person was killed when a portion of an opencast mine collapsed in Jharkhand’s Dhanbad district on Friday, police said.
According to police, the incident occurred at around 10.30 am at Bhowra Colliery Area of Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL), about 21 km from Dhanbad, which is being mined by a private outsourced firm.
“The local police visited the site of the incident. It’s a functional open-cast mine of the BCCL being mined by a private firm. As per initial findings, a portion of the mine collapsed. Body of a male has been recovered,” said Sanjeev Kumar, senior superintendent of police(SP), Dhanbad.
News agency PTI, however, claimed, quoting anonymous eyewitnesses, that at least three people died in the incident and a few others were trapped In the mine where several persons were engaged in illegal mining.
The SSP, however, said while there are complaints of a few others being trapped but no more body has been recovered. “We will act further as per the final report by the BCCL,” Kumar said.