This is the second such incident in the city in the last five months
A contract employee, R. Sakthivel (36), of Erode was killed after he was buried alive in a 15-foot-deep trench, while he was involved in an underground drainage work, being executed by the Madurai Corporation, in Ashok Nagar, on Monday.
After a four-hour rescue attempt by police and Fire and Rescue services personnel, Sakthivel’s body was retrieved around 3 p.m. from the slush.
According to the site engineer, A. Subash Chandra Bose, five workers were involved in laying of an underground drainage pipeline on Monday morning. The work was to connect a pipeline with the concrete manhole which was inserted one month back.
Sakthivel, who operates the concrete breaker, was working at a depth of 15 feet to drill a hole for connecting the pipeline. Even as he was working at the bottom, a huge portion of the loose soil caved in.
One of the workers, Mohan Kumar, rushed to his help. “He was stuck inside the mud that covered him up to his neck. I scooped out the mud till his waist and again tried to pull him up but he was firmly stuck inside,” he said.
Even as Mohan Kumar was hopeful of saving his co-worker, an underground water line of the Cauvery Combined Drinking Water scheme, suddenly burst. Huge quantity of water gushed out from the pipeline filling the pit within a few seconds.
“As the water level went up beyond my head level, I had to come out. With workers holding a rope tied to his waist, Mohan Kumar again dived into the water, but could not trace Sakthivel,” said the site engineer.
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No Corporation engineer was present at the site when the accident took place. Fire and Rescue Services personnel and police took up the rescue operation by pumping out the water. However, all the efforts went in vain as they could pull out only Sakthivel’s body.
This is the second such incident in the city in the last five months. Another contract worker was killed in Vilangudi in June.
Madurai Mayor Indrani Ponvasanth, MP Su. Venkatesan and Corporation Commissioner, Simranjeet Singh, and Deputy Commissioner of Police (Madurai North), Mohan Raj, oversaw the rescue operation.
The DMK councillor of Ward 2, Amutha, complained that she has been opposing digging of road as monsoon has started. “But no officials heeded to my suggestion,” she charged.
