Korba: Two persons, including a woman, died after they were buried alive in sand while illegally quarrying coal on a riverbed in Chhattisgarh’s Korba district on Wednesday, police said.
The incident took place in the wee hours on the Hasdeo river bed under Kotwali police station limits of Korba, one of the mineral rich districts of the state and known for its coal reserves.
People residing in localities close to the Hasdeo river illegally extract coal from the riverbed and adjoining areas, a police official said.
As per preliminary information, on Wednesday, Purani Basti area residents Laxmin Manjhi (35) and Shivlal Manjhi (21) went to the riverbed, dug a pit there and went inside it to extract coal.
The sand around suddenly caved in and they got trapped inside, the official said.
Other people present at the spot tried to rescue them but could not succeed, he said.
On getting information about the incident, a police team rushed to the spot and retrieved the bodies with the help of locals, the official said, adding that a case was registered in connection with the incident.