Odisha mine mishap: Death toll rises to 11

Bhubaneswar: The death toll in the mining mishap that occurred in Odisha’s Sundergarh district six days ago in climbed to 11 with local authorities on Friday confirming one more death. “The mutilated body of a woman was retrieved from the debris Thursday. The death toll now stands at 11,” district Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Arora told IANS.

Arora said two people, a man and a woman, are still feared trapped under the debris and efforts are on to locate them.

The help of sniffer dogs attached to the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is being taken, he said.

The accident occurred on 10 August at the Basundhara mining area at Kulda in Sundergarh district, 450 km from Bhubaneshwar, when a group of villagers were allegedly collecting coal shells from an overburden dump that collapsed on them.

Overburden is the name given to the material above the coal reserve, which is removed before mining and dumped elsewhere.

Since that waste contains also low grade coal shells, people often sneak into the prohibited mining zone area to collect these from the dumps.

IANS