Korba: Two men, including a woman, died after they were buried alive in sand while illegally mining coal on a riverbed in the Korba district of Chhattisgarh on Wednesday, police said. The accident took place in a few hours on the Hasdeo River bed under the Kotwali Police Station of Korba, one of the state's mineral-rich districts known for its coal reserves.
People living in communities near the Hasdeo River illegally extract coal from the riverbed and adjacent areas, a police officer said.
According to preliminary information, the residents of Purani Basti, Laxmin Manjhi (35) and Shivlal Manjhi (21), went to the riverbed on Wednesday, dug a pit there and went inside to extract coal.
Suddenly, the sand caved in and they got stuck inside, the official said.
Some people on the spot were trying to save them, but they couldn't succeed, he said.
After receiving information about the incident, the police team rushed to the spot and retrieved the bodies with the help of locals, the official said , adding that the case had been registered in connection with the incident.
