Dhanbad mine collapse: NDRF, BCCL begin rescue operation for trapped miners

A joint team from the NDRF and the Bharat Coking Coal Ltd started a search operation to rescue miners allegedly trapped during illegal mining in an abandoned coal mine in Jharkhand's Dhanbad, officials said.

The operation by a 35-member squad of the NDRF and a 15-member BCCL mines' rescue wing began around 11.30 am, after a futile attempt to search for the miners late on Thursday evening.

Meanwhile, confusion continues over the alleged mine collapse incident at the Block-2 closed underground mines of BCCL at Baghmara, with several leaders claiming muiltiple deaths in the incident.

The NDRF was mobilised on Wednesday after Giridih MP C P Choudhary staged a dharna at Baghmara police station, demanding immediate rescue operations at the spot.

"The MP has pointed out three spots as suspected sites of trapped persons. Search operation has started at one of the spots and other locations would come under its ambit soon," Baghmara police station officer in-charge Ajit Kumar said.

The incident occured on July 22 evening, after roof of underground closed mines at Block 2 caved in, allegedly trapping several hired workers.

An NDRF official said on the condition of anonymity that the speed of the search operation is slow in absence of required resources, including JCB machines.

Jamshedpur West MLA and former Jharkhand minister Saryu Roy had on Thursday alleged a large-scale cover-up to conceal at least 15 deaths in the incident, calling it a case of "people being deliberately buried under fresh soil to destroy evidence".

On Wednesday, Choudhary had claimed that at least nine workers lost their lives.

Despite mounting allegations, officials from the Dhanbad district administration, BCCL and police claim that no signs of any such incident have been found so far.