One coal mine worker died while four others were severely injured in a blast that took place at the RK5B underground mine of Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL), in Srirampur area in Mancherial district of Telangana. The blast was triggered reportedly due to a detonator misfiring. The incident took place at around 6 pm on Wednesday. 

The deceased has been identified as Rathnam Lingaiah (54), a coal cutter. The other injured workers are: Palle Rajaiah (52), Gade Shivaiah (53), Chilka Suman Kumar (30) and Katla Srikanth (24). 

All the four injured workers were rushed to Hyderabad after being given first aid at Singareni Area Hospital, and Lingaiah died on his way.

“Preliminary information from the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) is that the explosion in the underground mine was the cause of the accident. We are yet to get full details about the accident,” Deputy Commissioner of police (DCP), Mancherial, Uday Kumar Reddy, was quoted as saying by The Times of India.

Reacting to the incident, former Nizamabad MP, Kalvakuntla Kavitha said, “Today's accident at Srirampur Area RK5B mine is the most tragic. I appeal to the Singareni management to provide better treatment to the injured. I wish the worker brothers a speedy recovery.”

A case was registered under Section 174 of the CrPC.

It may be recalled that a similar blast took place at SCCL open cast mine in Godavarikhani earlier this year in June, while the blasting operations to excavate coal were underway. In the accident, four workers were killed and two were injured. This incident was one of the major accidents that took place in an open cast mine. The workers’ union had alleged that the blast took place due to negligence of the authorities, who failed to take precautionary measures.