Dhanbad: A man died while another received serious injury after a large chunk of coal fell on them during illegal mining in a closed mine in Jharkhand's Dhanbad district, police said on Thursday.
The incident happened at Raja Colliery open cast mine in the Mugma area of Eastern Coalfield Limited (ECL) under Nirsa police station, around 200 km away from Jharkhand's capital Ranchi on Wednesday evening.
The deceased was identified as Shankar Bhuyan (26), a resident of Nirsa Kata Bhatta Colony while the injured person Rohit (27), a resident of Sindri Colony, was admitted to a private hospital.
Nirsa police station in-charge Dilip Kumar Yadav said a team has been sent to probe the incident.
Former Nirsa MLA Arup Chatterjee alleged that illegal mining was being done in closed mines when the incident happened.
Nirsa North Panchayat head Dinesh Singh said that the incident occurred between 8 pm and 8.30 pm. "More than a dozen people were engaged in illegal mining... All of a sudden a large chunk of coal fell on them", he said.
"Nirsa police and Mugma Colliery area were informed about the incident and requested for rescue operation. When they did not take any notice, debris were removed with the help of local people and CISF personnel during which the body of Shankar Bhuyan was found", Singh said.
Published 01 February 2024, 08:04 IST