The ongoing rescue operations in lalmatia mines have been badly hit after a landslide occurred for the second consecutive day at the rescue site on Wednesday. As many as 18 bodies have been recovered so far and several others still feared to be trapped in after an opencast coal mine at Rajmahal area of Eastern Coalfields ltd (ECl) in Godda collapsed on Thursday last.
“After December 29 incident, the total area has become unstable. Today, also a minor sliding occurred following which the rescue work has been suspended after 3:45 pm. It will be resumed again from tomorrow morning,” said General Manager of ECl SK Singh. “Besides 46 Battalion of National Disaster Response Force, teams of Coal India limited, along with the entire workforce of ECl have been roped in for the relief work,” said Singh.
“Meanwhile, the number of recovery of bodies is also getting down day by day and we have not been able to find out a single body in the last two and a half days as the workers who were with equipments have already been dug out,” said Singh. “Rest of the people might have been deep rooted for which 15-20 lakh cubic meter Over Burden (OB) will have to be shifted to some other place which may take more than a month’s time,” he added.
“Still we are trying our best to find out the remaining bodies. Maximum 5 bodies are still expected to be left inside,” Singh added.
Officials are taking extra precaution to avoid any other untoward incident at the site and the rescue workers are withdrawn as soon as any movement is spotted on the debris.
“We have deputed our men to keep a close eye on the debris and as soon as any movement is spotted on the OB, people are immediately withdrawn. Today also, some sliding was spotted where the rescue was being conducted at around 3:45 PM following which it was stopped till tomorrow,” said the officer. Rescue work was also suspended for over two hours on Tuesday, after similar movements were experienced on the rescue site, he 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. locals also claimed that there was a crack in the heap of mud which collapsed and blocked the entry point of the mine.