The Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL)’s coal miner Ravinder, who was trapped in the debris inside the mechanised underground coal mine in the Adriyala Longwall Project (ALP) in Peddapalli district, was rescued on Tuesday afternoon, nearly 28 hours after the roof collapse in the underground mine.
Three more persons, including two SCCL officials and an outsourced worker, were still trapped in the rubble inside the country’s largest mechanised mine after a portion of the mine’s roof caved in on Monday afternoon, even as the massive rescue operation by the rescue teams continued till reports last came in.
The trio stuck in the rubble at the mishap site at the 86 th level about 550 metres below the surface in the mine include — Area Safety Officer Jayaraj, Deputy Manager Chaitanya Teja and an outsourced worker T. Srikanth.
While one coal miner managed to escape narrowly soon after the mishap, two others were brought out safely by the rescuers late on Monday afternoon.
As the members of the SCCL’s mines rescue team moved in the chairlift man riding system carrying safety gear as part of the massive rescue operation, the family members and relatives of those trapped in the mine waited with bated breath outside the ALP with anxiety writ large on their faces.
After an arduous operation involving removal of coal debris manually, one of the rescue teams brought out a visibly feeble Ravinder from the underground mine much to the relief of his anxiety-ridden family members from Chandapalli in Peddapalli mandal. He reportedly suffered bruises on his legs.
He was rushed to a local hospital and from there to a super-speciality hospital in Hyderabad, sources added. SCCL Director (Finance, PAW) N. Balram and other senior officials of the government-owned coal company personally monitored the rescue operations at the ALP.
Meanwhile, Singareni Collieries Employees Union (SCEU) general secretary M. Narasimha Rao demanded that a judicial inquiry be ordered into the mishap in the ALP’s mechanised underground coal mine to figure out the cause of the devastating mishap and take stringent action against those responsible for it.
In a statement, he alleged that the SCCL management was solely responsible for the mishap as it ignored the unions’ consistent appeals to give utmost priority to the safety of the workforce and keep the privatisation policies at bay.
