Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Jul 10: After the earth caved in when digging the ground for laying foundation, three workers were buried alive, in an incident which occurred at Koramangala seventh stage here on the evening of Saturday July 9. A worker also suffered injuries in this incident.

The spot where construction work was carried out by Zubair Ahmed belongs to Zed Constructions. Work was going on here since the last several days. The policemen gave the names of the deceased as Shivalinga (55) from Tamil Nadu and resident of K R Garden Koramangala, Ishrafir (26) from West Bengal, and Rukchand (24), also from West Bengal. The injured, Alangir Sheikh (26) from West Bengal, is being treated in a private hospital here. It is gathered that he is out of danger.

The policemen said that a case of negligence has been registered against the company and that legal steps would be initiated. They noted that the soil had become wet and soft because of rains in the city and that a 25-metre pit had been dug for sinking of pillar.

After the mud came sliding down at around 7 pm, locals called fire brigade. Fire brigade rushed to the spot and could save one of the workers, Alangir Sheikh, who too was buried in mud but for his skull that was jutting out. The three bodies were thereafter excavated after an effort of over two hours, the police said.

Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike commissioner, Manjunath Prasad, visited the spot and conducted inspection. He said that engineers of BBMP, Savitri and Chennaveerayya, have been suspended as the building design was found to be faulty. There have been allegations of dereliction of duty on the part of contractor as no safety measures were in place. A case was registeerd in Koramangala police station. Senior IPS officers, Dr Boralingaiah, Revanna, and others visited the spot.