Two workers killed in accident at Adaro's coal mine

South Kalimantan-based coal producer PT Adaro Indonesia (Adaro) said that two miners were killed and another injured in an explosion at its one of its coal mines located in Wara Tepian village, Tabalong regency in South Kalimantan, Media Indonesia reported Tuesday.

Adaro 's operation manager in South Kalimantan Putu Sastrawan said on Monday said the incident occurred on Sunday. The mine's wall was collapsed in the incident.

According to Putu, the mining inspection team from the Directorate General of Energy and Mineral Resources and South Kalimantan province's mining agency are currently at the mining site to investigate the causes of the accident. It was suspected that the workers might have exploded the mining wall by violating standard procedure.

Both workers -- Syahrian, 30, and Fitriyadi, 35 -- were killed due to the fall of soil and coal stones on them. Meanwhile, Udin, 32, suffered a serious back injury. All these workers are working for PT Batu Timur, which hired them from PT Pama Persada, a sub-contractor of Adaro.

Company administration manager Priyadi told Petromindo.Com on Tuesday that the company suspended activities at the mine soon after the incident, but "the operation has returned to normal".

Adaro has targeted to produce around 32 million tons of coal in 2006, significantly higher compared to 26.69 million tons in 2005, following the improvement of its barging fleet and ship loading systems.(*)