Two workers buried alive in rice mill in Sivaganga district; owner, one other, arrested

Police said the workers, one of whom is from Bihar, were packing rice into bags, when they got trapped under a massive mound of rice, and suffocated; a case has been registered and an investigation is underway

In a freak accident, two workers, including one from Bihar, died when a huge quantity of rice stored in the granary of a modern rice mill in Sivaganga district, fell on them, leading to their instant deaths, on Friday night.

Police said on Saturday that the rice mill, situated in Sakkottai near Karaikudi, was owned by Gurusekar of Puduvayal town. When workers at the mill were engaged in packing the rice into bags, two among them, identified as Muthukumar (45) of Kandanur Thilagar Thidal and Kundan Kumar (30) of Purnia district in Bihar, are believed to have gotten trapped under the rice. Almost immediately, the workers were covered in massive quantities of rice, and, even before they could be rescued, they were buried alive, according to the police.

Fire and Rescue service personnel rushed to the spot and retrieved the two bodies.

Initial police investigations suggested that the deaths may have been caused due to suffocation. The two bodies were sent for post-mortem examinations to a government hospital.

Sakkottai police have registered a case and arrested the rice mill owner Gurusekar, and his son Kannan. Further investigations are on.