Jharkhand mine tragedy: 6 BCCL officials booked

Ranchi: A complaint was formally lodged against six Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL) officials in connection with a mine accident in which four miners were killed, police said on Thursday. According to police, a first information report (FIR) was lodged Wednesday night against Tara Shish Mandal, general manager; A.K. Singh, project officer; P.L. Das, manager; Unnikrishnan, senior personal officer; R.K. Singh, colliery safety officer; and A. Banerjee, area safety manager. [caption id=“attachment_1229279” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Agencies.[/caption] The FIR has been lodged under Sections 288, 337, 338, 304 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Panchet police station of Dhanbad district. Four miners died after the roof of the mine caved in. A BCCL official said the roof collapsed at the Basantimata colliery, situated at Nirsa in Dhanbad district, 240 km from Ranchi. At least 175 miners were inside, excavating coal, and 171 of them were rescued. They were working in the mine when the accident occurred. Police sources said a big stone fell on the trapped miners whose bodies were recovered later. The mine was closed in 2009 for safety reasons, and again closed for fire safety reasons this year. The mine was re-opened two months ago. The safety measures were overlooked which caused the incident, according to police sources. IANS