Bhubaneswar, July 24 (IANS) At least four workers are feared trapped while nine have been injured in a landslide at an open cast mine of Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) in Odisha's Talcher, said an official on Wednesday.

"Labourers working in the night shift at Bharatpur open cast mine in Talcher Coalfields of MCL came under a dump slide due to a strata failure," said an MCL statement.

The accident occurred between 11 p.m.-11.30 p.m. on Tuesday when a portion of earth broke loose trapping 13 workers and machinery at work, it said.

The fellow labourers and rescue teams immediately swung into action and rescued nine workers, who were shifted to the company's Central Hospital at Talcher for treatment of minor injuries. Rescue operation is underway to recover four missing workers.

MCL's Director (Technical/Operations) and Director (Personnel) have rushed to Talcher to oversee the rescue operations.

Meanwhile, tension has erupted in the area following the incident. The district administration has deployed adequate security personnel to avoid any untoward incident.

--IANS cd/dpb/rtp