Sambalpur: Body of a missing coal miner was recovered while rescue operation was underway to search for remaining three worker trapped in debris following strata collapse last night here at Bharatpur OCP (open cast project) in Talcher Coalfields of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL).
At least 13 coal miners working on earthmoving machines during the night shift came under a landmass due to strata failure occurred between 2300-2330 hrs on Tuesday.
The fellow miners and rescue teams immediately swung into action rescued nine workers, who were shifted to company’s Central Hospital at Talcher for treatment of minor injuries.
While one body has been recovered, the rescue operation is underway with the help of MCL’s Mines Rescue Team, local police and MCL Security personnel to search for the three missing workers.
The Director (Technical/Operations) and the Director (Personnel) are overseeing the rescue operations and an inquiry committee, under the General Manager (Safety & Rescue), has started investigation to ascertain the cause of strata failure.
Meanwhile, it has been noticed that a section of media has reported that blasting at Bharatpur OCP on Tuesday night has been the cause of landslide, which is factually incorrect as no blasting operation takes place during night hours in coal mines of the company. There remains a fixed schedule for blasting operations in all MCL mines with an early warning system, which ensures no untoward incident. However, the landslide/avalanche occurs with a bang which follows a sound of falling/sliding earth mass.
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