“The bodies of eight of the 12 people trapped under the debris of a hilly stone quarry that collapsed in Mizoram’s Hnahthial district on November 14 have been recovered,” officials said on November 15.
The search operation was being carried out by a 15-member National Disaster Response Force team besides the personnel of the paramilitary Assam Rifles and Border Security Force.
R. Lalremsanga, the district’s Deputy Commissioner said four of the 12 trapped workers were employees of ABCI Infrastructures Private Limited while the others were engaged by a local contractor.
“The area of the landslide is about 5,000 square metres. Apart from the people, five excavators, a stone crusher and a drilling machine were buried under the debris,” he said.
The private firm is executing a project to widen a stretch of the highway connecting Hnahthial town, the district headquarters.
The district’s Superintendent of Police, Vineet Kumar said rescue operations will continue till all the missing persons are found. “There were 13 people working at the site when the landslide happened. One worker managed to escape,” he said.
The incident happened about 3 p.m. at Maudarh, which is about 45 minutes’ drive from Hnahthial.
Mizoram’s Additional Secretary of Disaster Management and Rehabilitation Department Lalhriatpuia said crude method of quarrying employed could have caused the tragedy.
Locals said the workers had drilled too deep to make the stone quarry unstable, resulting in the entire hill falling on them.
