NEW DELHI: The
chief vigilance officer
of Hindustan Copper Limited (HCL), Upendra Kumar Pandey, lost his life following a lift collapse at a mine in
Neem Ka Thana
, Rajasthan.
Fourteen others were rescued from the incident site and admitted a hospital in Jaipur after a long rescue operation.
The
accident
happened when the HCL vigilance team of 15 personnel from Kolkata were returning back from an inspection and the cable suddenly snapped, leaving them trapped at a depth of 1,875 feet.
“An accident occurred at Kolihan copper mine of Khetri Copper Complex (a unit of HCL), Khetrinagar, Rajasthan at around 7:30 pm on May 14,” HCL said in a statement.
HCL assured that they were taking all necessary measures to restore normalcy and resume operations at the mine.
V L Kantha Rao, the mines secretary in Delhi, announced that an inquiry would be ordered to investigate the incident. “I had been in the same lift a few months back. It was all good…we will get an enquiry done and find out what happened,” said Rao.
The rescue operation involved the SDRF team, led by commander Ravi Verma, along with nine jawans and the HCL rescue team. They provided first aid to the seriously injured and transported them from the -72 metre level to the zero metre level (sea level) using a trolley.
The injured were then taken to the base at the plus 64 metre level using an improvised stretcher, a pulley, and a rescue rope before being sent to the hospital in mine vehicles.
