A four-day-long rescue operation at an abandoned coal mine in Jharkhand’s Dhanbad district has so far yielded no trace of any trapped individual, according to police officials leading the effort.
Despite claims from political leaders that several lives were lost following an alleged collapse during illegal mining, authorities confirmed on Sunday that no bodies or survivors had been recovered from the mine at Block 2 in Baghmara.
“Search operation is underway in full swing, but no person has been found trapped till 5.30 pm. The operation will continue,” said Ajit Kumar, in-charge of the Baghmara police station.
The search, which began late Thursday, is being jointly conducted by a 35-member team from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and a 15-member rescue team from Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL).
Also read: Dhanbad tragedy: NDRF begins search for survivors after 3 days
The incident gained political traction after Giridih MP CP Choudhary led a sit-in outside the Baghmara police station on Thursday. The MP alleged that multiple individuals had been buried alive and submitted a list of five names he claimed were trapped inside the collapsed mine.
His protest and the submitted list prompted the administration to launch the full-scale rescue mission, which has continued with round-the-clock efforts.
The mine in question had long been declared abandoned, but reports of rampant illegal mining in the area have persisted for years. While local sources continue to allege that unregistered labourers had been working in the mine at the time of the collapse, officials maintain that no evidence has yet been found to substantiate those claims.
As operations continue, pressure is mounting on the district administration to clarify the sequence of events and whether the mine collapse involved human casualties at all. Authorities have yet to provide a final report, but police say they remain committed to exhausting all possibilities before concluding the operation.
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