Chennai:21-year-old killed as pit caves in

CHENNAI: A 21-year-old man who was working at an underground tank, died after the pit he was digging, caved in. Police said he was working at the house of one Ramanathan in Neelankarai on Saturday, when the incident happened.

The deceased, identified as S Arivazhagan (21) a native of Sankarapuram at Kallakurichi, was working in Chennai for the past one year, said the police. Around six persons were working in the house at Kapaleeswarar street in Neelankarai around a kilometer away from the beach. Arivazhagan, his mother and four others were involved in the work.

“At around 5.15pm, while the men had already dug a 12 feet deep and 6 feet wide pit at his house, they placed concrete rings to hold the soil. During the process, the base ring moved from the spot and Arivazhagan jumped inside to move it. But when he moved the heavy concrete, the sand that was dug up, slipped and fell over him along with the concrete rings,” said the police.

While the other men tried to save him, it took them more than 30 minutes to clear the sand that covered the pit. Meanwhile, the fire and rescue team was alerted and a team from Velachery and Thiruvanmiyur reached the spot and removed the concrete rings.

Arivazhagan was found dead with his head being smashed by the rings.