Official sources said Jang Beting, 40, an employee of Chinese CMC that is operating in the mine, missed his step and fell into a pile of coal at the mine's phase 1109 at 1,400 feet depth. He was crushed by a huge pile of coal and died on the spot.

His co-worker Mostafizur Rahman was seriously injured at that time.

A rescue team rushed to the underground and recovered Beting's body and sent it to Dinajpur Medical College and Hospital for autopsy. Mostafiz is undergoing treatment at the same hospital.

The two had been working in the night shift and the accident took place around 10:30pm, said officials of Barapukuria Coal Mine Co Ltd.

Yesterday's incident did not hamper the mine's daily production, sources said.

With Beting, two foreigners have so far died at the mine in one month since activities officially resumed there on April 17. On April 26, British ventilation consultant Albert Banes Davis died at a depth of 430m near the same phase.

A three-member probe committee formed following Davis' death said in its report that the Barapukuria coal mine is vulnerable for the workers, sources said.