Bhopal, March 6: In a tragic incident, three coal miners lost their lives due to a slab collapse at the Chhatarpur-I coal mines operated by Western Coalfields Limited (WCL) – a subsidiary of Coal India Limited on Thursday.

Nishchal Jharia, Superintendent of Police, Betul district, confirmed the deaths while speaking to IANS over phone, “Three workers were extricated half-an-hour ago, but their lives could not be saved.”

Upon receiving the information, police and state disaster relief forces rushed to the accident site and worked tirelessly to extricate the trapped workers.

According to unconfirmed reports, additional workers may still be trapped inside the mines. The slab collapse occurred suddenly, approximately 3.5 km inside the mine. However, the size of the collapsed slab has not been confirmed by police officials, who said that rescue operations and investigations are still going on.

The identities of the deceased workers have not yet been confirmed.

The bodies of the workers have been sent to a hospital operated by Western Coalfields Limited for post-mortem examinations.

Western Coalfields Limited is engaged in the mining and marketing of coal, with operations across 82 mines spread over 10 regions in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

The existing underground Chhatarpur mine no. I and Chhatarpur mine no. II are situated adjacent to each other in Pathakhera Coalfields.

In October last year, WCL had closed its underground Pathakhera Mine No-II, which was originally opened in January 1970 in Betul District. This mine has been closed due to the exhaustion of coal reserves.

Also, the “Miniratna” company closed another underground mine, Pathakhera Mine No- I, which was established on May 16, 1963, in Betul District, Madhya Pradesh.

This mine has been closed due to the exhaustion of extractable reserves in all three coal seams, and another underground mine, Satpura II, which was opened in June 1973 in Betul District. This mine has been closed due to depletion of coal resources within approved project limits.

--IANS

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