Four people died and four others were seriously injured when a portion of a brick kiln in Bengal’s Murshidabad district collapsed on them on Thursday.

The incident happened in Goash-Nalbati village under Islampur police station, about 225 km to the north of Kolkata. The injured were admitted to Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital in critical condition.

Police officers of Islampur police station identified the dead as Tayeb Moulavi (60), Parula Bibi (50), Bajlu Sheikh (35) and Jamerul Sheikh (30). Tayeb Moulavi was the owner of the kiln. The other three were labourers.

Locals said Moulavi was supervising the work when a portion of the kiln caved in, trapping him and a section of the workers under a pile of bricks. While two of the injured died at Islampur hospital, two others succumbed to their injuries at Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital.

Locals said the accident happened when some labourers were removing bricks from the ‘canal’ of the kiln. In any brick kiln, earthen bricks are kept in ‘canals’ for baking. A ‘canal’ is a pile that looks like a room with hollow spaces inside. After a stipulated time the bricks are removed from the ‘canal’ and new earthen bricks take their place.

Locals suspect, the mishap took place when the bricks were being removed from the ‘canal’.“This is a very rare incident. Usually experienced labourers know how to remove bricks from a canal,” said Bisnupada Das, the secretary of Murshidabad district Brick Field Owners’ Association.

There are 577 registered brick kilns in Murshidabad district.

First Published: May 02, 2019 17:18 IST