2 women die after abandoned mine caves in Anuppur

Bhopal: Two women died when an abandoned coal loading site caved in Madhya Pradesh’s Anuppur district on Monday. Police say the victims were mining coal illegally when the incident happened.The site was abandoned by Southeastern Coalfields Ltd 15 years ago, Ram Nagar police station in-charge Rakesh Baishya told TOI. The victims were identified as Kaushalya Panika, 20, and Indra Kali, 42. The site is around 70km from the district headquarters and right next to the Chhattisgarh border.“It was a siding or coal loading site that the company had covered with sand after it was abandoned. The locals, however, had dug the ground to mine for coal since in places like this, a large quantity of coal remains just beneath the ground. It was not an illegal mine but the deceased were mining illegally,” Baishya told TOI.Kaushalya and Indra were buried alive when mud from a hole, dug by locals caved in, said the officer. “Rescue began after we got information in the late afternoon. The women were taken out and rushed to a local hospital where doctors declared them dead,” Baishya said. A case of unnatural death was registered in the Ram Nagar police station.This is the second such incident this year. On January 27-28, seven bodies were recovered from an abandoned SECL mine in Dhanpuri area of Shahdol district, around 90km east of Ram Nagar. An FIR was registered against the SECL management and the local police station in-charge was removed by senior officials after the Shahdol tragedy.