Five coal labourers killed, two injured in accident at Odisha's Dhamra port

At least five labourers were killed and two injured when a coal heap caved in at Dhamra Port Company Ltd (DPCL) premises leading to arson and violence at the Dhamra port in Bhadrak district of Odisha on Tuesday, officials said.

[caption id=“attachment_3878319” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] As the news spread, hundreds of people including some labourers went on a rampage ransacking the office, torched the main gate and even heckled CEO Subrat Tripathy. According to ANI, angry labourers burnt the port’s main gate, three offices, an oil tanker and vehicles at the site. The incident took place this afternoon when the labourers were engaged in covering the heap of coal at the port’s coal stockyard during rains. The high-quality coking coal had been imported from Australia and the labourers were covering the heap as there was no shade over it. “So far three bodies have been recovered and three others were rescued in critical condition,” a DPCL official said after three bodies were recovered initially. The critically injured workers were taken to the district headquarters hospital at Bhadrak. District collector GR Das said, “We have information regarding some workers being trapped in the coal heap. We will inquire how the labourers were engaged in work on Independence Day.” Senior police officials have gone to Dhamra to take stock of the situation. With inputs from PTI