All 50 bodies of trapped miners located

Dhanbad, Sep 8: All 50 bodies of the trapped miners were today located, 44 of them pulled out whose death was caused by emission of toxic gas sparked by huge explosion inside the Bhat-Dih mine of Nagda colliery of BCCL on September six, about 40 km from here.

The rescue team was engaged in collecting the remaining bodies.

BCCL Chairman cum managing Director Partha Bhattacharyya today confirmed the death of all 50 trapped miners saying they had been located.

Of the 44 pulled out, post mortem had been done on 25 bodies which had been handed over to the concerned families.

The BCCL authorities said bodies of the rest 19 miners would be given to their families by this evening after post mortem was completed.

The bodies were strewn all over the colliery due to the explosion in the pit, sources said.

Till last afternoon, the rescue team had a tough time in assessing the exact location of the accident as they had to fight emission of carbon monoxide.

Last night some 30 bodies could be located and subesequently the process of pulling them out began.

Coal Minister Sibu Soren, who rushed to the spot yesterday, announced Rs three lakh compensation to the families of the deceased besides job assurance to a member each of the families.

Mr Soren said a judicial inquiry would be conducted to find the reason leading to the disaster.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda, after attending a programme on centenary celebration of Vande Mataram in the state capital yesterday, said the government would bear the expenses of treatment and announced Rs one lakh to the next of kin of the deceased.

On September six, altogether 57 miners went to work inside the pit. Out of 57, one miner came out without informing the authorities. Of the remaining 56, three sustained injuries which forced them to leave the place.

When the accident occurred, 53 miners were still inside the pit while three managed to come out of the pit with burn injuries. They were rushed to the hospital.

UNI