Two workers trapped after wall of opencast coal mine collapses in Jharkhand

Two workers were trapped after a mine wall collapsed on a coal-loading truck at a CCL opencast mine in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh district late Saturday night. Rescue operations are underway, while one injured worker has been hospitalised and mining activities suspended

Hazaribag: Two workers have been trapped after the wall of an opencast 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.

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A highwall in mining is the face of exposed overburden and coal in a mine, and its stability is important for safety of miners and equipment, experts said.

The trapped coal workers, who were on the truck when the accident occurred, were identified as Sunil Yadav (30) and Raju Paswan (50), Barkagaon sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Pawan Kumar said.

“A rescue operation is underway for the two workers. Another person has already been rescued from the accident site and admitted to a hospital here,” he added.

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

The labourers at the opencast mine stopped their coal extraction activities after the accident, he added.