Bodies of seven people working at an open-cast mining site in Jharkhand’s Dhanbad were retrieved two days after their service van plunged into a gorge in the aftermath of heavy rain and landslides.
The bodies were pulled out of a two-day operation that involved teams from the National Disaster Response Force, police and the state-run Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL), whose outsourcing partner operated the mine site.
On Friday, the van plunged nearly 100 feet into a gorge after a massive landslide at mine’s overburden dump area – the place where economically unviable mining debris, such as rock and soil, are deposited during mining operations.
The accident occurred after a landslide occurred in the open-cast mine in BCCL Area-4 in Ramkanali. Several houses and some temporary structures near the mine are also believed to have collapsed.
Four of the bodies were recovered Friday while three were found Saturday, rescuers said.
“The incident occurred on the 5th around 10-10:30 am. Our team reached that night, and we started the operation at 7:30 am the next day. It continued till about 4 pm,” Kaushal Kumar, an NDRF official, told The Indian Express, adding that the NDRF 31-member team worked with the BCCL to retrieve the bodies.
Meanwhile, amid rumours of more people being trapped, Dhanbad SSP Prabhat Kumar said all bodies had been accounted for. “There is no information of anybody missing. People can say anything, it doesn’t make it true.”
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According to sources, the BCCL has announced Rs 36 lakh as compensation for each of the victims’ families following extensive negotiations with the PSU, the outsourcing company, the district administration and trade union leaders.
