18 bodies recovered in December coal accident at Jharkhand

Eighteen bodies could be recovered out of 23 miners killed in a coal mine accident occurred at Godda district of Jharkhand in December, Coal Minister Piyush Goyal informed the Rajya Sabha today.

"A mine accident has occurred recently at Rajmahal OCP of Eastern Coalfields Ltd (ECL) at Godda district of Jharkhand on December 20, 2016 ... resulting into fatalities of 23 persons.

Out of which till now, 18 bodies could be recovered," Goyal said in a written reply.

"While the operation of removal of loose overburden material was going on in the northern side of the mine by means of excavators and tippers, a large area measuring 600mx 110 m slid down by 30 m due to which 12 tippers and five excavators along with the operators got buried under the sliding OB material resulting in the fatalities," the minister said.

The statutory enquiry of the said accident has been completed by the Director General of Mines Safety which has issued show cause notice to 18 officials of the company.

Further, a departmental enquiry has been conducted by Internal Safety Organisation (ISO), ECL, in which manager, general shift incharge, shift incharge, overman and mining sirdar were found responsible, he said.

The manager of Rajmahal OCP has been suspended and general shift incharge and shift incharge have been issued memorandum. Further, overman and mining sirdar have been charge-sheeted, the minister said.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)