Korba, December 17: Three workers were killed after a gas leak in an underground coal mine of South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) in Chhattisgarh's Korba district, police said. The accident took place on Sunday evening in Bagdewa coal mines of SECL, which is a subsidiary of Coal India, a senior police official said.

A worker accidentally went inside a non-functional tunnel of the mine where the oxygen level was low and a poisonous gas was emanating, he said. In a bid to rescue him, two other workers went inside the tunnel and all three of them fell unconscious, he said. 11 Workers Killed, 2 Missing in China Mine Explosion.

After being alerted, a rescue team pulled out the three workers and took them to a local hospital where all of them were declared dead, the official said. A case was registered, he said, adding that a probe was underway in the mishap. Chhattisgarh's chief minister-designate Bhupesh Baghel expressed condolences over the death of the three workers and announced a compensation of Rs 75,000 to the kin of each of the deceased.