The Hindu : Two workers killed as earth caves in at construction site

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jan 21, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai

Two workers killed as earth caves in at construction site

By S.Shivakumar

CHENNAI JAN. 20. Two casual labourers were killed and three others injured, one of them critically, when a big mound of soil caved in on them inside a vast and deep pit at a construction site on C.P.Ramasamy Road and Abhiramapuram 3rd Street junction this afternoon.

The deceased were pulled out by the fire service personnel with the help of the police. The injured have been admitted to the Government Royapettah Hospital and two of them suffered injuries in their spinal cord," a doctor said. The workers were fixing steel rods for `centring work' when they got trapped.

Police identified the deceased as Yesuraj (40) and Vishwanathan, (20).

"Totally 12 of us were working when the mishap occurred. The earth caved in on us suddenly. While those of us who were working in the edges managed to rush to safety others in the middle got trapped. Hearing the commotion co-workers and some autorickshaw drivers rushed and pulled us out. As the sand was very loose we could not drag out those trapped in the middle immediately" said an injured Dhanraj, who was being treated at GRH.

"We all came to work only today and do not know even the names of the co-workers. We were promised Rs.45 as daily wages. It is shocking and it all happened so fast", he added.

The landowner had got sanction for constructing a building with a basement. A pit of about 20 feet had been dug for the foundation. A temporary wall had been constructed to prevent the sand from falling into the pit. "It appears that the wall was not strong enough to hold back the soil", a corporation official said.

"The wall seems to have been constructed very poorly which led to the tragedy. We are interrogating a few persons in this connection", the JCP (South) J.K.Tripathy who visited the spot said.

Several family members of the injured persons rushed to the spot on hearing the news. The area was filled with the wails of the kin of the victims. " Only today my son came to work. I brought lunch for him when I heard of the tragedy" said a kin of the victims.

The temporary wall and the sand came crashing down with a loud noise which could be heard for nearly a km according to local residents. "We were standing in the autorickshaw stand when we heard the noise. We first thought it was a bomb explosion only when we rushed to the spot we realised it was a wall collapse", an autorickshaw driver said.

Meanwhile as news spread about the tragedy several curious onlookers gathered at the spot. Police had a tough time preventing the crowd from entering the premises as the soil was very loose and slippery.

The police picked up a few persons in connection with the incident for interrogation. The Abhiramapuram police are investigating.

Earlier this month, two contract workers working on a sewer pipe-laying project for the Metrowater died after they were caught in mud that caved into the pit they were digging at New Farrens Road at Otteri. The contractor was arrested.

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