SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Sept 19: “The bodies of all three women trapped in the crater of Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL), Gondudih colliery, were brought out on the late evening of Monday after 34 hours of operation,” an official said.
Baghmara Circle Officer (CO) Ravi Bhushan Prasad who was monitoring the rescue operation on the directive of the district administration said that the last body was brought out from the crater at around 9.20 pm.
Earlier, the rescue team had brought out the body of a woman in parts on Sunday evening. The second body was recovered at 1.30 pm on Monday. Among the three only one was identified while two other bodies were beyond recognition.
Three women residents of Chotki Bouwa Basti fell into the crater on Sunday afternoon when all of a sudden the colliery road under their feet caved in. At first one woman fell into the crater and later two others also sank in course of rescuing each other.
On Monday, the district administration also called an NDRF team in the afternoon for the rescue operation but the BCCL rescue team brought out the third body in the late evening.
After the recovery of all the three bodies, the Basti residents refused to take them demanding compensation from the outsourcing company mining in the colliery. Irate villagers said that the mishap happened due to the outsourcing company and they would not take the bodies till the officials of the outsourcing company do not hold negotiations.
The Coal company as well as outsourcing company officials did not visit the incident site after two senior officers of BCCL were attacked and badly injured when they reached there to launch a rescue operation on Sunday.
The official said that the entire area is subsidence-prone due to unscientific mining by private coal companies before the nationalization of the coal industry in 1972-73.
Over 110 families are living in the Basti. Most of them claim to be land owners (Raiyat) and despite the dangerous area, BCCL has not rehabilitated them to a safe place.
