Four men dug for 20 hours to get out of an abandoned coal mine in Jharkhand’s Bokaro district. They got trapped in the quarry on Friday and found a way out Monday, the police said. 

Residents of the Tilatand village in Chandankiyari block, the four said they kept digging for 20 hours to find a way out of the Bharat Coking Coal Ltd (BCCL) mine at Parbatpur.

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National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel were deployed for a rescue operation on Sunday after district administration and BCCL authorities failed to trace them.

Superintendent of Police Chandan Kumar Jha said that the trapped people, identified as Laxman Rajwar (42), Anadi Singh (45), Ravana Rajwar (46) and Bharat Singh (45), managed to come out of their own around 3:30 AM on Monday.

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Jha said that six people had entered the closed coal mine for illegal excavation on November 26 and they got trapped after a portion of it caved in.

Two people managed to get out as soon as the incident happened but the remaining four could not be traced despite best efforts to locate them.

The SP said that the Parbatpur coal block was under the management of Electrosteel Plant which was acquired by BCCL.

However, the administration is silent over whether any legal action will be taken against the four people for being involved in illegal mining.

Local MLA from Chandankyari, Amar Bauri, and several administrative officials visited the site on Sunday to assess the situation. 

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“The Parbatpur coal mine where the incident happened is abandoned and belongs to BCCL. The locals sometimes enter it to collect coal for domestic use. It seems the four of them had gone to pick up coal when a coal layer suddenly collapsed and they got trapped inside,” Bauri had said.

“A few villagers also claimed that they had heard their voices inside the mine. Whether they are involved in illegal activities this is a secondary matter. The administration should first take serious steps to save their lives,” the MLA had added.