At least 10 people were killed and 50 others were trapped after a huge pile of Over Burden (OB) dump in an opencast coal mine at Rajmahal area of Eastern Coalfields ltd (ECl) in Godda district collapsed on Thursday night, officials said on Friday. Till now 10 bodies reportedly have been recovered but the exact number of it could be ascertained after the rescue operations are completed, said officials.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Chief Minister Raghubar Das and enquired about the incident expressing grief over it.

Some of the workers were identified to be belonging to neighbouring Bihar, while rescue work was on to find survivors and bodies at the accident site.

Officials said a large heap of OB dump caved in at the entry point of the Bhodai coal mine at around 7:30 pm when approximately 40 mining workers were on the site.

Also, locals claimed that there was a crack in the heap of mud which collapsed and blocked the entry point of the mine. Mining activities were started here merely three days ago which was kept on hold for the last six months after cracks were spotted in the area, they added.

Notably, The Pioneer in its report titled ‘Mind your own safety; It’s ECl way of mining!’ on July 3, 2016, Ranchi edition had highlighted the issue prominently. The reports showed as to how the abandoned coal mine was left with hundreds of feet deep gorge filled with rain water that along with emptied gullies posing great danger to human lives and properties.

Chief Minister Raghubar Das, immediately after the incident, talked to Godda DC and directed him to carry on the rescue operation. Chief Secretary Rajbala Verma and

 DGP DK Pandey also rushed to the site on Friday to take stock of the situation after CM’s direction to personally monitor the rescue operations. Three teams of National Disaster Response Force from Patna have also reached the spot to assist the ECl rescue team. 

“Family members of each of the dead persons will get a compensation of Rs 12 lakh each, 5 lakh will be paid by the ECl, 2 lakh by the State Government and rest of Rs 5 lakh will be given by the concerned mining company,” said Chief Secretary Rajbalal Verma. The matter will be investigated properly and an FIR will be lodged against those found guilty for the incident, she added.

The CS assured that the whole district administration has been roped in to carry out the rescue operations, along with the teams of ECl and NDRF.

The Director General of Mines Safety (DGMS) formed a five-member committee to investigate the matter and Coal India limited will also probe the matter to avoid such incident in future. The DGMS officials hinted that safety measures were being overlooked during mining.

“It is due to the negligence by the local management who do not follow the guidelines issued by us. Meanwhile, a five-member inquiry committee has been formed under Deputy Director General (Eastern Zone) U Saha, which will look into the matter. Anything could be said about the incident only after the enquiry is completed,” said DGMS Rahul Guha.

The ECl has also announced an ex gratia compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to these families, in addition to the amount to be paid under the Workmen’s Compensation Act.

“Prima facie, it is observed that the incident is unprecedented, since an area of 300 by 110 m 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 a statement issued by ECl.