Three suspected coal lifters were buried alive on Wednesday around 3pm when a large chunk of coal roof collapsed on them at an unguarded opencast mine of Eastern Coalfields Limited in West Burdwan's Raniganj.

The bodies of three men were recovered on Thursday morning. They are still unidentified. Some more persons are feared trapped.

Local sources claimed that over 100 local persons, mostly women, had gone to the unfenced open cast mine (OCP) at Narayankuri in Raniganj police station limits on Wednesday afternoon to steal coal.

"Suddenly, a large chunk of coal roof collapsed on them. Many of them managed to come out safely but nearly seven to eight persons are feared trapped. Three bodies have been recovered so far," said a local resident.

All the bodies have been sent to Asansol district hospital for autopsy.

Sources claimed that coal smugglers, who allegedly engaged the "labourers" to pilfer coal, suppressed the incident for hours in connivance with the local police until former Asansol MP and CPM leader Bansa Gopal Chowdhury brought the matter to the notice of ECL officials and district administration.

"I contacted the district magistrate immediately after coming to know about the incident and urged them to start rescue operations," said Chowdhury.

Local BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul rushed to the spot and blocked NH2 demanding immediate rescue operations.

"I repeatedly urged local police and administration to start rescue operation immediately but it started 12 hours after the incident. They tried to hush up the matter. Many lives could have been saved if the police were prompt," said Paul, who claimed seven persons had died so far.

Disaster management teams of the ECL and the state government are carrying out rescue operations.

The BJP MLA also alleged that smuggling of coal was limping back on its feet in the West Burdwan coal belt with Trinamul's help ahead of next year's general election.

"Trinamul wants money power to rig polls and so they have started backing coal smugglers and the state police are hand in glove with them," claimed Paul, who also gheraoed Raniganj police station for two hours on Thursday morning.

Trinamul district convener V. Sivadasan denied the involvement of his party in coal smuggling.

He added that the security of coal mines was the Centre's responsibility.

CPM leader Chowdhury said he had been repeatedly alerting the ECL and the administration about the possibility of such an accident.

"I told them to guard to area properly so that no one could get access to the coal mines," he said.

After the incident became public, a team from the directorate-general of mines safety (DGMS) of the Centre arrived on Thursday morning to take stock of the situation.

"We have done videography of the site and have also spoken to some local people. Nothing more can be said at this point," said a DGMS official.

Police said that they had started investigations and had sent the recovered bodies for post-mortem.

"The rescue operations are ongoing and we have also started investigations of the incident," said Sonawane Kuldip Suresh, the deputy commissioner of police (central).

Suresh, however, refuted the charges levelled against the cops by the BJP MLA.