Four more bodies were on Sunday extricated from under a coal dump, which HAD crashed at an opencast mine of the Mahanadi Coalfields ltd (MCl) in Sundargarh district on Saturday, taking the toll to 14.
An MCl official maintained that 14 bodies had so far been recovered from the site of the mishap at Kulda in the Basundhara-Garjanbahal coalmine area. However, Sundargarh Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Arora confirmed death of 10 persons in the tragedy that took place when a heap of coal caved in, burying people from nearby villages who went there to collect coal. He said a search and rescue operation was still underway at the site as he and MCl officials did not rule out possibility of the toll increasing with some more people feared to have been trapped under the debris. Five persons who were rescued from the heap with injuries are undergoing treatment at a hospital.
An MCl spokesman said some villagers who had gone to the crash site in search of coal were buried when a portion of the coal dump suddenly collapsed, probably due to heavy rains that lashed the area on Friday. BJP Rajya Sabha member Dharmendra Pradhan, senior Congress leader Kishore Patel and State Commerce and Transport Minister Subrat Tarai (BJD) blamed the MCl for the mishap. However, the MCl spokesman said many residents of the area often visit the place to scour coal in the dump yard though entry of people to the area, located outside the mining zone, is illegal and there are notice boards warning about it.
Residents of the deceased, Balinga and nearby villages staged a demonstration in front of the Balinga outpost demanding compensation of Rs 30 lakh to each victim’s family. The villagers said they would not take bodies of the deceased till their demand was fulfilled. They also demanded Government help for their rehabilitation.