Mangalore: One Dead in Landslide at Derebail, Another Critical
 
Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (PS)
 
Mangalore, Nov 20: Construction labourers were trapped in a landslip that occured at a hillock at Derebail, Konchady behind AJ Hospital here on Tuesday November 20.

The labourers were employed with K2K construction company.

Varduth Mondel (52) from West Bengal lost his life in the incident.

Among the injured are Subhash (50), Shankaramma (50), Nazrulla Sheik (32), Sharful Biswas (50), Shilpa (17) and Najibulla Huda (22).

Fire squad personnel were able to rescue six labourers in all. Among them, Nazbul Shah is said to be critical.

The workers were said to be engaged in the task of constructing a retaining wall for a building when the incident occured.

The work began at around 9 am. A few were working above the hillock while women labourers were working below. More than 15 labourers were engaged in shifting the stones from one place to another. The landslide occurred at around 11.45 am. Three labourers were stuck in the soil completely while 4 others were partially trapped up till the neck.
 
Fire brigade rushed to the spot and the rescue operation lasted for one-and-a-half hours. MLA Krishna Palemar, DC Dr N S Channappa Gowda, ADC Dayanand, MCC commissioner Dr Harish Kumar also visited.
 

Permit suspended
 
Around 28 men and 12 women labourer were at work. Among these 15 were working at the spot where the landslide occurred. Mangalore City Corporation temporarily suspended the construction permit and demanded details of the incident from the owner.

 
Thirst saved them
 
Many of the women had a lucky escape as they moved away to drink water to quench their thirst. They were shocked to hear cries for help by those who were stranded in the soil.

Assistant commissioner Venkatesh who arrived at the spot said that a probe would be ordered to check if any safety norms had been violated by the construction company, and that further action would be taken based on the result of the investigation. He added that close to 40 labourers were employed with the company at the construction site. Many of them were brought to the city from Manipal where they were working earlier.

The injured have been shifted to a hospital. The incident occurred in Kadri police station limits.