TOI reported that a massive fire broke out in Kunustoria Colliery of Coal India Limited’s Eastern Coalfield Limited around 6 PM on Thursday.

Locals heard a loud explosion inside the mine located about 20 kilometer from Asansol soon after which fire and smoke started billowing out. It has not been controlled yet.

ECL faces a loss of INR 3 million per day. About 1,150 men work in the mine in three shifts and about 650 tonnes of grade A coal is recovered daily, the market price of which is INR 5,600 per tonne.

Mr Naba Kumar Mishra a Citu leader of ECL sent a letter to Mr PS Bhattacharyya CMD of CIL and Mr Smarajit Chakrabarti CMD of ECL to take immediate steps. He said that "Due to callousness of CIL and ECL, such incidents are occurring. In the past Joypuria and Shankarpur mines too were enveloped in fire. The management should have taken proper initiatives on October 17 itself.”

(Sourced from Times of India)