Little hope for trapped miners
Several dead workers were pulled from a coal mine in Jharkhand and there was “little hope” for about 50 miners trapped underground, officials said on Thursday.
By Agencies |
RANCHI: Several dead workers were pulled from a coal mine in Jharkhand and there was “little hope” for about 50 miners trapped underground, officials said on Thursday.
Rescuers had not made contact with the missing and it was not clear exactly how many dead had been found at the Bhatdih colliery after a suspected gas explosion there late Wednesday, they said.
“The rescue teams have found some of the bodies and the operation is still on,” said Bila Rajesh, deputy commissioner of the district, where the accident occurred. “We are still hopeful, but hopes (for their survival) are very little now.”
Hundreds of locals, including weeping relatives and fellow mine workers, crowded around the site of the accident. The safety manager for Bharat Coking Coal, which operates the mine in the western Jharia coalfields and was, running the rescue operation, said the fumes in the air after the explosion made chances of survival slim.
“It is very difficult to survive in this poisonous air,” B Ramarao said estimating “no more than 50” workers were trapped below. District police superintendent Baljit Singh said as many as 54 miners were trapped.
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Carbon monoxide readings taken in the shaft after the explosion showed the deadly gas was present at levels that could cause death “in two to three minutes”, the safety manager said. Television footage showed helmeted rescue workers stripped down to their undershirts with oxygen tanks on their backs heading down the mine. Mr Ramarao said the rescue workers had traveled more than 1,000 metres (3,300 feet) along the sloping mine shaft but were still about 400 metres from the miners. The chief of the coal company said earlier he had no information about the condition of the miners.
“We can’t say anything about the state of the trapped miners,” managing director Partho Bhattacharya said. “We can just pray for their safety.”
The explosion ignited a fire, which has been extinguished, but rescuers had not yet managed to make contact with them since the accident occurred, officials said. Mr Bhattacharya told an Indian news channel rescue efforts were initially delayed because of the need to ensure the rescue team’s safety.
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“After the explosion the mine was still blocked so naturally we would not like to put our rescue teams in without ventilation,” he said. “But now ventilation has been enhanced.” The explosion in the Dhanbad district could have been caused by leaking gas, police officer VD Ram said in Ranchi. “We don’t know what exactly caused the explosion and the fire. Maybe it was due to leakage of gas,” Ram said. Coal minister Shibu Soren ordered an inquiry into the accident and said a report would be submitted in two weeks. The coal company would also conduct an inquiry, its chief said.
The Dhanbad area, sometimes billed India’s “coal capital”, has a history of fatal mining accidents, most recently when 31 workers died after a mine filled with water in 2004. The worst tragedy occurred in 1975 when 375 miners drowned in a mine.
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