A young mother was trapped in the rubble when the land on which her house stood caved in early on Saturday at Jambad village in West Burdwan’s Andal.

The subsidence-prone area, which comes under Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL), is lease-hold land, had been declared abandoned and unsafe for human habitation by the company years ago.

Sahanaz Banu, 35, was hurrying out of her house with husband and three children after they felt a tremor around 2am. While Banu’s husband Sheikh Miraz and their children escaped, the house caved in before their eyes, trapping Banu.

ECL authorities tried to rescue Banu but operations stopped after sunset. Though rescue efforts will resume on Sunday, her husband Miraz and villagers fear she is buried alive. “I have lost all hope of getting back my wife alive. I saw her go in,” said an inconsolable Miraz who lodged a police complaint against ECL for negligence. He continuously wept as he stood near the site.

Five abandoned ECL quarters in the vicinity of the abandoned mine also collapsed.

In a meeting with the police, ECL authorities said they would help Miraz get a job with a private security agency. The monetary compensation has not been decided.

Miraz’s family and some other families were staying illegally at the abandoned ECL quarters after their houses collapsed in an earlier subsidence, a source said. The land became loose with rains.

Smugglers pilfer coal from the area after the ECL declared it abandoned and stopped mining, said an ECL official.

Asansol mayor and Trinamul’s Pandaveswar MLA Jitendra Kumar Tiwari, who had rushed to the spot, held the ECL responsible for the mishap. “Their (the ECL’s) only concern is looting coal from here,” the livid MLA said. “Our chief minister (Mamata Banerjee) has taken up the matter personally with Centre and urged them (the Centre) to allow us to build houses to rehabilitate people in subsidence-prone areas but they are indifferent. The ECL has to take responsibility for this,” he added.

ECL officials said coal was reserved within 600 metres of the surface, which could be mined in the near future.

As per the rules of Coal India they could not allow construction on the land.