BENGALURU: A 21-year-old worker died after a mud wall at an under-construction site caved in at Old Madras Road near Hosakote on Tuesday. The incident took place following Monday’s heavy rain.
Fire officials carried out a two-hour-long operation to extricate the body of the victim, identified as Sharanappa, son of Basappa and a native of Raichur. At the time of the incident, other workers had gone for lunch and Sharanappa was walking alone next to the wall.
Amith Singh, Superintendent of Police, Bengaluru Rural, told Express: “The incident occurred at Brigade Golden Triangle around 1.15 pm and the construction site belonged to Brigade Group. The workers alerted the supervisor and security guards on the premises about the cave-in.”
“The guards later pelted stones at reporters who went to cover the incident. Avalahalli police station staff rushed to the spot and controlled the situation. Fire personnel subsequently extricated Sharanappa’s body from the mounds of debris and sent it to Hosakote government hospital for autopsy,” he added.
A senior officer from fire department said there was no engineer or supervisor at the time of the incident, and no safety equipment were given to the workers.
“We thoroughly checked the spot to see if any other workers were stuck in the mud debris. The staff present did not give us any information about the engineer or supervisors responsible for the incident. The pit was dug in an unscientific way, which could have led to the wall collapse,” he said.
An eyewitness Durgappa said, “I was working on a nearby pillar when the wall collapsed. Those who noticed the wall caving in started screaming. I called the security guards who then alerted the fire department.”
Sharanappa’s mother Lingamma told Express, “At the time of the incident, we had come out for lunch but Sharanappa was still walking after taking drinking water from a tap next to the mud wall. As many as 45 workers live in the sheds here.”
Mathew Abraham, spokesperson from Brigade Group, said the project had been handed over to CICON engineers who are responsible for the incident. “Our engineers were also at the spot. We will look into the matter and then take necessary action.”
“The contractors are still absconding and a special team has been formed to nab them. A case of negligence has already been filed. We have warned the security guards for throwing stones at media people,” said Avalahalli police.