Four Singareni coal workers killed in explosion

Hyderabad, June 2 (IANS) Four coal mine workers of state-owned Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) were killed and three others injured in an explosion in the coal mine in Telangana's Peddapalli district on Tuesday.According to police, the incident occurred in the open cast mine-I of Ramagundam Region-III of Singareni.Ramagundam Police Commissioner V Satyanarayana told reporters that the explosives meant to blast the rocks went off accidentally, killing four workers and injuring three others.The deceased were identified as Rajesh, AAnjaiah, Praveen and Kumar, all working on contract basis. Police shifted the bodies to Singareni Hospital at Godavarikhani for autopsy.Two injured were admitted to Godavarikhani Hospital and the third was shifted to a hospital in Karimnagar.Officials said the explosion occurred when the workers were filling some rocks for blasting them. The detonators exploded much before the expected time, resulting in the tragedy.Meanwhile, various trade union leaders called on the injured at the hospital and demanded Singareni pay compensation of Rs 1 crore each to the families of the deceased and Rs 50 lakh each the injured.The Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) is a government-run coal mining company jointly owned by the Telangana and the Central governments on a 51:49 equity basis.It has18 opencast and 27 underground mines in Telangana and nearly 49,000 workers work in these mines.
--IANS ms/vd