Three labourers were killed while 13 others were injured when a powerful blast ripped through a minie in Sonebhadra district on Friday morning. However, UP Minisng minister Gayatri Prajapati put the death toll at one.
The minister came up with a weird cause claiming that lightening struck the area, triggering off the blast. He however ordered a high-level enquiry into the incident and sent a team from lucknow. While the government has announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh for the dead and Rs 50000 for the injured, local administration put the compensation at Rs 5 lakh fort he deceased.
As per reports, a powerful blast took place during illegal mining at the Markundi area of Sonebhadra on Friday morning. labourers laying explosives in the area to trigger planned explosion, fell victim to the sudden detonation. . Three of them died on thespot while 13 pothers were seriously injured. The deceased were identified as Sant lal (45), Hanslal (45) and Devnath (35).
On being informed, DM, SP and additional force rushed to the spot and SP, Mirzapur, Ram lal Verma personally supervised the rescue and relief operation.
Of the 13 injured, the condition of five is stated to be critical. The authorities claimed that the mining was being done legally and a probe has been ordered to find out the cause of the explosion. A case has been also registered in this regard with the Chopan police station.