Two days after 200 miners were trapped in some mines in Asansol-Raniganj coal belt following power breakdown due to the collapse of Eastern Grid, 21 miners got stuck in a mine at Pandaveshwar area in Burdwan district for several hours on Thursday. They were, however, successfully and safely rescued by the Eastern Coalfield Ltd (ECL) authorities.
At around midnight, 27 miners went down the ECL’s South Shyamala Colliery at Pandaveshwar for the night shift. In the morning, six of them came back after their shift was over.
The remaining could not come out because the lift in which they had gone to the underground mine suddenly stopped working. This sparked panic. These miners were scheduled to return at around 8 am but they could be “rescued” several hours later at around 2 pm.
“The accident happened because of a technical glitch in the lift. We, however, sent food and water to the stuck miners through another route and we kept on exploring a rescue route. Finally we succeeded in bringing them back safely,” ECL area general manager Manoj Kumar said.
The head of the miners, Asish Mukherjee explained that the lift is operated through a steam engine. “The lift developed a snag because water had entered the broiler,” he added.
Mr Kumar said that despite all out efforts, the lift could not be operated and the miners were eventually evacuated through the pit-head of an abandoned mine, 100 metres away.