A devastating explosion late Saturday night, January 3, 2026, at an illegal stone quarry near Gopalpur village in Odisha's Dhenkanal district claimed the lives of two workers, with several others feared trapped beneath collapsed debris, prompting an urgent large-scale rescue operation amid chaotic scenes at the site.

Officials confirmed the quarry was operating without authorization, having received a formal closure order from the district mining office on September 8, 2025, due to lack of mandatory blasting permissions, yet unauthorized detonations allegedly continued, raising serious questions about regulatory enforcement and potential lease expiration that remain unconfirmed.

Visuals from the darkened site revealed massive stone slabs scattered and piled into the deep pit following the powerful blast, which caused a significant soil cave-in, complicating efforts to ascertain the exact number of labourers present or buried, as initial rescue attempts by co-workers and locals gave way to professional intervention.

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Multiple injured workers were rushed to nearby hospitals for treatment, while senior administrative and police officials quickly arrived to cordon off the area, restrict access, and launch a preliminary inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the illegal activity and the tragic incident.

Rescue operations intensified with the deployment of seven specialized teams, heavy machinery to shift enormous stone blocks, and dog squads to locate possible survivors, as fire officials noted the challenges posed by the scale of the collapse and the nighttime conditions hindering manual removal of rubble.

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