By IANS,
Raipur : At least four people were killed and 32 injured Thursday in an underground coal mine blast in Chhattisgarh’s Koriya district, an official said.
The blast took place at Anjani Hill mine in Chirmiri area when workers of South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL), the largest profit-making subsidiary of public sector Coal India Limited, were trying to fix a Carbon Monoxide leak.
“Six workers are still trapped inside the mine that caved in due to the blast. Rescue operations are on,” Alok Awasthi, Koriya district collector, told IANS over phone from the accident spot, about 400 km north of state capital Raipur.
He said the deceased included SECL’s deputy general manager S.K. Goswami and two workers while chief general manager S.K. Mallahi was among the injured.
SECL spokesperson Alok Sinha said mining activities at the Anjani Hill mine were under suspension for the past few days. The blast occurred when workers were fixing the gas leak under the supervision of senior mine officials.
“SECL mines in the region are considered non-gas mines. It is the first time that a gas leak has been reported in the mine,” he said, adding that all the seriously injured workers have been shifted to Apollo hospital in Bilaspur.