GUWAHATI: Eight bodies were recovered from the debris of a stone quarry that collapsed at Maudarh
village in Mizoram’s Hnahthial district on Monday afternoon.
Initially, it was believed 12-15 workers were at the site when the mishap occurred. Now, it emerged
that there were 20 people, from Bihar and Jharkhand. They were hired by the ABCI Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, and another firm.
Official sources said the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) is constructing a two-lane highway in Mizoram. The ABCI Infrastructure Pvt Ltd was working under it.
The workers were busy extracting stones for the highway project when the tragedy struck them.
Mizoram’s Additional Secretary of Disaster Management and Rehabilitation Department Lalhriatpuia told this newspaper there were 20 workers at the site at the time of the incident.
He said personnel of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were coming from Guwahati to carry out a search and rescue operation.
“Thirty-seven NDRF personnel are coming in two groups along with their commander to carry out the
operation. However, it will not be easy. Since a huge amount of soil and stones came crashing down a
hill during the mishap, they will need heavy machineries to remove the earth,” Lalhriatpuia said.
“They followed unscientific quarrying methods. They triggered explosions without any design. This had
loosened the soil,” he said.
District Magistrate R Lalremsanga said the process to identify the bodies would begin after post-
mortem. Some have been already identified.
“The search operation is still going on and it will continue till all missing bodies are found,” he
said.
Aizawl-based personnel of the NDRF besides the NHIDCL and workers from the ABCI Infrastructure Pvt Ltd workers were engaged in the search and rescue operation.
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