In the third major accident at the Yermarus Thermal Power Station (YTPS) construction site, about 11 km from here, two workers were killed on the spot and two others were injured after the walls of a trench collapsed on them, at about 10.30 a.m. on Friday.
The deceased were identified as Mukhilesh (25) and Muthin (53), and the two injured as Syed Husein (35) and Najeeb Ulha (53). All the four are from West Bengal. “The labourers were constructing a strong supportive wall for a 2.7-metre-wide iron pipe that was laid in the trench for supplying hot water from the main plant to cooling tower no. 2,” G.C. Mahendra, Chief Engineer (Civil), told The Hindu . As news of the accident spread, the 4,500 labourers working at the site stopped work and rushed to the spot. They disrupted rescue operations by pelting stones at the rescue personnel. Allowing only the injured to be taken to hospital, the workers prevented the police from taking the bodies to hospital. As a result, doctors from KPCL hospital, Shaktinagar, were summoned. The workers insisted that the bodies could be taken away only after compensation to victims was announced.
