KOLKATA (miningweekly.com) – The investigation into the Lalmatia coal mine disaster in India that killed 18 and injured scores of others may be expanded to include federal agencies.

The mine collapse is being investigated by the Directorate General of Mines Safety (DGMS) and is being monitored by the Ranchi High Court. However, Coal India Limited (CIL) and the Coal Ministry have indicated that they are supportive of the idea of involving central government agencies, including investigators of the Central Bureau of Investigations, once the ongoing investigation is completed to eliminate any loopholes in the technical aspects of the disaster.

Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL), a wholly owned subsidiary of CIL, operates the opencast Lalmatia coal mine, in Jharkhand, where on December 29, a massive mound collapsed.

An outsourced contractor operated the part of the mine on the fateful day, when a patch measuring 600 m long x 100 m wide, involving a solid strata of 35 m on which overburden was dumped, collapsed, trapping and killing those working at a lower level of the mine.

Officials said that one of the reasons for involving more central government agencies and expanding the ambit of the ongoing probe was that the DGMS had undertaken several audits of the Lalmatia mine prior to the collapse.

According to a media report last week, the DGMS had completed an inspection of the Lalmatia mines three months prior to the accident and the mine safety agency had not issued a clearance to ECL to continue operations at the site.

“There is no doubt that there was laxity on part of the mine management. There were sufficient visible indications to suggest movement in the pile of earth and an impending slide,” the DGMS’s Rahul Guha was quoted as saying.

However, in the wake of the Lalmatia mine collapse, the Coal Ministry last week ordered a comprehensive safety audit across all CIL’s operational mines, including the appointment of a domestic or international consultant to be involved in the process.

The safety audit would be taken up by the DGMS and the Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, as well as another external consultant engaged after completing a selection process, an official added.