One dead, five injured in Odisha coal mishap

Bhubaneswar: One person was killed and five injured when coal dump caved in near an open cast mine area of Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) in Sundargarh district of Odisha today. The incident took place when some people from nearby villages were collecting coal from the overburden dump at Kulda opencast mine in Basundhara-Garjanbahal area, an MCL spokesman said.[caption id=“attachment_1010545” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Some of them came under a heap as a portion of the coal dump suddenly collapsed, he said adding a rescue operation was immediately launched at the site. Six persons were rescued and rushed to a nearby MCL hospital where one of them was declared dead, he said adding the five others were undergoing treatment. Some more people are suspected to be still trapped inside and a clear picture would emerge after the rescue operation is complete, sources said. Rescue operation was in progress by a team of MCL along with government agencies and personnel from the district administration and police, MCL sources said adding senior officials are monitoring the operation. PTI