Two guest workers from Bihar were killed when land caved in on them while they were digging a trench for a multi-storey building under construction at Chinthavalappu here on Thursday. The deceased were identified as Kismat, 30, and Jabbar, 35.
The rescue operations carried out by a group of local people with the support of the police and Fire and Rescue Services personnel helped save the lives of six other persons.
One of them was seriously injured. The incident occurred around 4 p.m. when the workers were digging earth for installing a lift.
The police said the workers continued to dig unmindful of the earth’s clayey nature. Also, no proper security measures were in place at the worksite, they said. Though the rescue wings managed to trace most of the victims within half-an-hour of the incident, it took around three hours to find the last person buried under the soil. Lack of light too delayed the rescue work. All the rescued persons were admitted to the Government Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode.
District Collector U.V. Jose and District Police Chief (Kozhikode city) Kaliraj Mahesh Kumar reached the spot to coordinate the rescue operations. A Fire and Rescue Services officer said the removal of soil was tough as there were several concrete portions on the ground. Also, the soil condition was not suitable for the deployment of more earth movers, he said.
Three years ago, two labourers from West Bengal had been killed in a similar fashion at Pantheerankavu.
