BENGALURU: A grieving mother, who lost her son Ramu, a tractor driver from Yadgir, said the family had migrated to Bengaluru in search of a livelihood and found work at the quarry. “We came here to earn our daily bread, but today we have lost our son. We don’t know what to do now,” she said, breaking down in tears.
She said Ramu had left for work around 6 am on Thursday. “A few hours later, we received a call informing us that he had met with an accident. I don’t know what to tell his wife,” she said.
Another family member said the incident had left the workers in fear. “What will we do now if such incidents keep happening? We came here from another place hoping for a better life. We earn only around Rs 800 a day as daily wages,” he said.
Meanwhile, Vinod, an earthmover operator who was loading stones about 10 metres from the spot when the mishap occurred, said there was no possibility of rescuing those trapped beneath the collapsed boulders. “I only heard a loud crashing sound when the rocks came down.
There was no debris on my earthmover, but the workers standing near the boulders were crushed instantly,” he said, adding, “I saw some workers running and jumping away from the boulder to escape. They sustained injuries to their hands, legs and head while trying to save their lives.”
