Jharkhand: Two workers die after wall of opencast coal mine collapses

Two workers died after the wall of an opencast coal mine collapsed on a truck in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh district, police said on Sunday.

The accident occurred around 11 pm on Saturday in the command area of Central Coalfield Limited (CCL) under the Urimari Police Station limits when the highwall of the mine caved in on the coal-loading vehicle, a senior officer said.

Both bodies were retrieved from the debris during an operation on Sunday, Barkagaon sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Pawan Kumar said. A highwall in mining is the face of exposed overburden and coal in a mine, and its stability is important for the safety of miners and equipment, experts said.

The deceased coal workers, were identified as Sunil Yadav (30) and Raju Paswan (50), the SDPO said.

“The bodies have been sent for post-mortem examinations. Another person was rescued from the accident site and admitted to a hospital here,” he added.

The debris could not be cleared on Saturday night due to darkness, fog and a protest by coal workers there, the SDPO said.

Yadav was working as the tipper operator while Paswan was employed as the dump man by the outsource company, another police officer said.

The labourers at the opencast mine stopped their coal extraction activities after the accident on Saturday night.