Three masons at a construction site died while a labourer was rescued after being buried under debris when the compound wall of a neighbouring property collapsed on Saturday evening.
The labourers were working on the foundation at an under-construction commercial complex in Koramangala.
Under treatment
The deceased are Ishraf (26), Rukhchand (26), both from Murshidabad district of West Bengal, and Shivalingam (35) from Tamil Nadu. They were masons. The labourer, Alangir Sheikh (30), is also from Murshidabad. He was half buried under the debris. He was rescued minutes after the accident and is undergoing treatment in St. Johns Hospital. His condition is said to be stable.
Labourers had dug a 25 feet deep pit over the past two days to lay the foundation.
Earth came loose
Witnesses said that after building a retaining wall on two sides of the foundation pit, around 15 labourers were marking the spot for another retaining wall when the accident occurred. “As the labourers were returning to the north end of the site after making the markings, the loose earth at the rear of the plot on which stood the compound wall of the adjoining residence, collapsed. Many labourers just about managed to escape, but four were trapped,” said H.S. Revanna, DIG, Fire and Emergency Services, who led the rescue operation. While Sheikh was rescued, the bodies of the three masons were recovered after a three-hour-long operation. The trio were trapped under around 10 feet of debris that fell on them from a height of 25 feet.
Residents of the property whose compound wall collapsed were evacuated to safety.
'They did not check stability of earth'
“The people carrying out the constructing at the accident site were clearly neglecting safety norms,” said H.S. Revanna, DIG, Fire and Emergency Services. The contractor had tried building the retaining wall without checking the stability of the earth, which resulted in the accident, he said.
Srinivasa Reddy, Assistant Executive Engineer, BBMP, said the builders had neglected standard procedures while constructing the retaining wall in the foundation pit. “Usually sand bags are piled up against the loose earth as a buffer. The retaining wall is built after laying a column of sandbags, which prevents a collapse. But here, no sandbag was used. Instead, they have tried to build the retaining wall directly after digging without checking for the stability, leading to the accident,” he said.
The land is owned by Zuber Ahmed, who was at the spot when the accident occurred. At the time of filing this report on Saturday night, police were yet to book a case.
