10 officials of HCL rescued from Rajasthan mine, five still inside

Ten of the fifteen members of a team of Hindustan Copper Limited (HCL) who had been trapped in a mine in Neem ka Thana district since Tuesday night, were rescued on Wednesday morning, 15 May.

Fifteen officials of the public sector company got trapped in a mine Tuesday night when a cage used to carry the personnel fell after a rope broke, police said.

The team included members of the vigilance department and other officials who had gone for an inspection. When the cage was coming up, it collapsed due to the breakage of a rope.

"Ten persons have been taken out so far and the process of taking out the remaining five persons is going on," SP Neem Ka Thana Praveen Nayak said.

Three officials, Hansraj, AK Sharma, and Preetam were rescued and taken out of the mine in the first round.

Five more, GD Gupta, Vanendu Bhandari, AK Bohra, Niranjan Sahu, and Bhagirath were taken out in the second, while Ramesh Narayan Singh and Karan Singh Bohra were taken out in the third round.

Neem ka Thana Collector Sharad Mehra told reporters that remaining persons would also be taken out in some time.

Earlier, Dr Mahendra Singh, a part of the medical team, said three of the rescued were sent to SMS hospital in Jaipur with fractures and other injuries.

Rajasthan chief minister Bhajanlal Sharma said officials have been instructed to speed up the relief and rescue operations.

"Information was received about the accident caused by the breakage of the lift rope in the Kolihan mine of Hindustan Copper Limited in Khetri, Jhunjhunu. The concerned officials have been instructed to immediately reach the spot and speed up the relief and rescue operations and provide all possible help and health facilities to the affected," he said in a post on X.

A vigilance team, along with senior officials and workers of the state-owned company, had gone inside the mine for an inspection.

However, when they were about to come up, the rope holding the cage broke due to which it collapsed and the personnel were trapped at a depth of several hundred feet, police said.