MCL Coal Mine Landslide: Still No Trace Of Missing Persons

Angul: Search operation is still underway to trace the three missing workers following the landslide at the open cast mine of Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) in Bharatpur of Angul district which killed one person on Tuesday.

A 30-member NDRF team along with the MCL’s security personnel, local police and district administration are carrying out the search operation to trace the three workers who are trapped under the landslide debris. However, the rescue operation has been hampered by rainfall in the area.

“Though we are uncertain about the lives of the missing labourers, the rescue operation is underway. After we called the NDRF team, they reached here with the sniffer dogs to help in search operation,” informed MCL’s Director (Technical/Operations) OP Singh.

Senior Congress leader Narasingha Mishra raised the issue in the State Assembly today and said that it is not enough to suspend some concerned officials from their jobs or to provide ex-gratia to the victims. Why no action has been taken against MCL, he questioned.

The landslide was triggered due to a blasting at the open cast mine of MCL on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, demanding adequate compensation for the family members of the deceased and injured, hundreds of MCL labourers staged a demonstration today. Besides, they demanded that MCL authorities should give priority to safety.

The MCL authorities, on the other hand, assured to provide all sorts of help to the workers.