Three workers buried alive in a stone quarry near Vadipatti

Madurai

Three workers were buried alive at a stone quarry near Vadipatti as a huge portion of earth and stones fell on them while they were involved in their routine work on Tuesday morning. One of them who sustained injuries, B. Seenivasan (55), has been admitted to a private hospital here.

The deceased were identified as K. Paramasivan (45) of Kulasekarankottai, S. Krishnan (54) and R. Nagaraj (54) of Poochampatti.

A police source said that the workers had used explosives to blast the rock on Monday. Eight workers had gone to the spot on Tuesday morning to clear the debris. While involved in the work, a huge portion of earth and stones buried them.

While one of them was killed on the spot, two others died on the way to the Government Hospital in Vadipatti.

The police have registered a case under Indian Penal Code Sections 337 (for endangering life and personal safety of persons due to negligence) and 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) against three persons, including quarry licencee, P. Ramesh Kumar of Avaniyapuram and its supervisor, Siva.

All the three are said to be absconding.

Inspecting the accident site and the family members of the deceased, the Minister for Revenue, R.B. Udhayakumar, said that the quarry had violated the Labour Laws that stipulated holiday for workers on May Day.

The district administration would take stringent action against them and also ensure safety at quarries to prevent recurrence.

The district administration has been instructed to cancel the licence for the quarry.

Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao, and MLAs Manickam (Sholavandan), and S.S. Saravanan (Madurai South) were present.