At least six persons died have died since Monday while several others are feared trapped inside three abandoned coal mines in Dhanbad, Jharkhand. Rescue operations are under way. The three abandoned coal mines are Gopinathpur Open Cast Project (OCP) of Eastern Coalfield Limited (ECL) under Nirsa police station, Kapasara also of ECL and Chach Victoria of Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL). They collapsed as mining was being done illegally.
“Among those whose bodies have been found so far are three women and a girl, from Gopinathpur OCP of ECL. Rescue operations by local police and other coal companies are under way,” said Prem Kumar Tiwari, Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of Dhanbad. “Only the coal companies can tells us the number of people trapped inside. We’re verifying the details. Our teams have rushed to the sites”, said Dhanbad Superintendent of Police (Rural), Reeeshma Ramesan.
