Four workers were killed and three others injured in an explosion in an opencast coal mine in Telangana’s Peddapalli district on Tuesday, police said.
The four were identified as Rajesh, Arjaiah, Rakesh and Praveen, who were in their 30s and were contractual workers.
Investigators said a preliminary probe has revealed that explosive material used to blast stones in open cast mines went off accidentally. “The blast is learnt to have occurred while fixing detonators in the holes,” a police officer said on condition of anonymity.
Peddapalli Parliament member Venkatesh Netha, Ramagundam assembly member Korukanti Chander, Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) general secretary Janak Prasad and BJP district unit president Somarapu Satyanarayana visited the injured in the hospital.
INTUC leaders demanded ex gratia of ₹1 crore to each of the families of the deceased. “We demand ~50 lakh each for the three injured and a judicial probe into the explosion,” Prasad said.