Five people have been confirmed dead after a pile of waste collapsed over locals trying to lift coal from an abandoned open cast mine owned by state-run Coal India Ltd in the eastern state of Jharkhand, police said on Wednesday.
Police said the mishap occurred early on Tuesday in Gopinathpur in the district of Dhanbad, located about 400 km (250 miles) from the state capital Ranchi.
The top police official in the region said the deceased were not professional miners.