Two goes missing in ‘goaf’ in Jharia

Dhanbad : A man and his 12-year-old son went missing after a portion of their workshop
suddenly caved in in a ‘goaf’ created due to underground mine fire at Jharia in Jharkhand today.

The two were sweeping their tempo workshop on Dhanbad-Sindri road in Jharia township this morning when all of a sudden the ‘goaf’ was formed and the boy disappeared in it.

His father jumped in to save the boy and disappeared too, police said. A rescue team of Bharat Coking Coal Limited reached the spot but rescue operation was affected since an angry mob pelted stones at them.

Dhanbad sub-divisional magistrate Rakesh Kumar rushed to the spot with reinforcement and launched the rescue operation. An excavator was pressed into service to rescue the two, he said adding the depth of the goaf was not known.

Underground mine fire has been raging in Jharia for about a century and the administration has declared some areas as unsafe due to frequent incidences of subsidences and creation of ‘goafes’. The workshop that caved in today was loacted in such an area.

With Inputs from PTI.

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