(Top) Fire from a coal pit on Wednesday and (below) villagers fleeing home. Pictures by Gour Sharma

Durgapur, Jan. 2: A steady trickle of residents living in villages close to the burning Asansol coal mine was today seen leaving their homes, fearful that the worst was yet to come.

“I am leaving with my wife, son and old mother for my ancestral house in Deoghar. I have no plans to return soon as I fear the area might collapse anytime,” said Pramod Kumar, a 45-year-old brick kiln worker of Benali village, waiting for a rickshaw to take him to the nearest bus stop.

The abandoned Jamuria mine, under the Eastern Coalfields Ltd (ECL), had caught fire on Monday evening and continu-ed to blaze today, possibly fed by metha- ne gas released by illegal digging by coal smugglers.

A thick cloud of smoke overhung the area through the day, making breathing difficult and sparking fear among villagers that they could be suffocated any time.

Many complained that they were feeling ill after continuously inhaling the fumes for two days. Others said they spent last night sleepless with worry.

Some staged a demonstration near the mine, about 230km from Calcutta, and accused ECL and the Burdwan district administration of not doing enough.

“We could not sleep last night and we are feeling scared,” said Goutam Majhi, 28, of Benali village. “My family and I are feeling suffocated and we plan to leave by tonight. I will go to my friend’s house in Ranigunj.”

A brick kiln worker, Goutam also questioned what the district authorities had been doing for the safety of the people.

“The ECL and the district administration have totally failed to put out the fire that is raging in the mine for over two days,” he said.

The villagers’ fear that something untoward could happen was confirmed after a team of experts from Dhanbad inspected the site and warned that an explosion was possible if the blaze was not put out soon.

“We cannot rule out an explosion if the fire continues inside the mine,” said Satish Puri, the deputy director-general of mine safety.

He asked ECL officials to speed up operations to plug the holes in the mine surface so that air could be blocked from rushing underground and fuelling the flames.

“The fire can be doused quickly if oxygen can be prevented from going inside. The ECL is filling up the holes by dumping ash and sand but it is not easy to put out the fire because the coal layers under the ground are burning,” Puri said.

He said the IOC pipeline, only 300 metres away, was as yet safe but cautioned that it could be threatened if the fire continued. IOC officials are monitoring the situation.