At least 67 officials, including Chinese nationals, of Barapukuria Coal Mine in Dinajpur have been infected with Covid-19.
On the other hand, nearly 50 other officers became ill with Covid symptoms, prompting the authorities to send the Bangladeshi workers on leave on Friday.
Meanwhile, there is a risk of fuel crisis at the Barapukuria Thermal Power Plant as coal extraction from the mine has been temporarily stopped, say officials.
However, Managing Director of Barapukuria Coal Mine engineer Kamruzzaman said there are 250,000 tons of coal reserved inside the power plant. “Coal extraction will resume before the current stock ends.”
He also said, out of 293 Chinese officials of the mine, 184 were tested for coronavirus and 36 came positive.
“In the same way, 72 Bangladeshi officials’ samples were sent for the Covid test. Of them, 31 people tested positive,” the MD said.
Wazed Ali, chief engineer of the Barapukuria Thermal Power Plant, said the only source of fuel for the plant was the coal mine.
He said: “The power plant may face a fuel crisis if coal mining does not resume in the next two months.”