Two men employed as contractual workers were buried alive in a landslide in Tamil Nadu’s Virudhunagar, while they were engaged in underground pipe laying work. The incident occurred in the wee hours of Monday, July 18, when the men were digging sand to lay the drainage pipes. The mound of sand suddenly collapsed on the two men, trapping them. The deceased have been identified as Sakthivel (42) and Krishnan (59), both from Chinnasalem of Kallakurichi. 

Speaking to TNM, Sattur police said that apart from the two men, there was also a JCB machine at the site to clear the sand while the men worked. “There was no rain in Sattur for nearly a week, so the reason for the landslide is unclear,” the police officer said. An FIR has been registered under section 174 (enabling police to enquire and report on suicide, etc) of the Criminal Procedure Code and an investigation is underway. 

As soon as the landslide occurred, fire and rescue personnel rushed to the site after receiving a distress call at around 1 am. An official told TNM that Sakthivel and Krishnan were buried under nearly eight feet of sand when they arrived on the scene. “The two workers must have tried to escape by themselves but when they realised that they could not do it on their own, they would have called for help. They must have been buried under nearly four feet of sand by that time,” the official said. 

Even after rescue and police personnel reached the spot, the bodies of the two men could only be pulled out two hours later. The bodies have been sent to the Virudhunagar Medical college hospital for postmortem and further investigation in the matter is on. According to reports, 35 contractual workers were employed by an Andhra Pradesh-based private company for carrying out underground drainage pipeline-laying work in Virudhunagar. Seven workers, including Sakthivel and Krishnan, were working in the Mukkrundathal area in Sattur.

With IANS inputs