From correspondents in Jharkhand, India, 03:03 PM IST

Five people were trapped in an abandoned Jharkhand mine and may be dead after it collapsed Thursday when they were illegally extracting coal.

According to police sources, 14 people were workiing in the Central Coalfield Ltd (CCL) mine in Rajrappa colliery of Ramgarh district when the roof came down following heavy rains.

Two people escaped from the mine and alerted the villagers. Seven people were then rescued. Five others went missing. 'We believe that all the five may have died,' said a police source.

Extracting coal from an abandoned mine is illegal. But many villagers do that for a living. More than 500 people have died over the years in the process.

Many families do not claim the bodies of the dead fearing police action.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)