4 dead, many injured in mine roof cave-in in Dhanbad : JMM MLA

A ruling JMM lawmaker told the Jharkhand House that at least four miners were killed and many others were severely wounded when the roof of an active BCCL mine in Dhanbad caved in during illegal mining on Thursday.

The incident took place in West Modidih Colliery which is operated by an outsourced company, about 20 km from Dhanbad town, he claimed.

BJP MLA Dhullu Mahto also raised the issue in the House.

BCCL officials and local police, however, denied the occurence of the incident.

An eye witness told reporters at the spot that the incident occurred around 5 am on Thursday when a section of residents from surrounding 'bastis' (miners' slums) were reportedly engaged in illegal mining. The mine roof caved in suddenly in which some of them were crushed under the debris.

Fearing police action, the villagers extricated those trapped and took them away for treatment, they said.

Thousands of coal filled sacks were found near the entrance of the illegal mining tunnel.

“At least four people died and many received injury during mining in an illegal mine in my area. I demand from the BCCL to provide compensation of Rs 20 lakh to the kin of the deceased and Rs five lakh to the injured person,'' JMM legislator Mathura Prasad Mahto said in the Assembly during question hour.

Officer in-charge of Tetulmari police station, Ashish Kumar Yadav when contacted denied the incident, as did the officials of the outsourced company.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)