A 45-year-old labourer from West Bengal died on the spot, while two other migrant workers were injured during a mishap on a road project site on Tirunindravur-Tirupati highway on Saturday night.
Police said Subhash Mandal of Mahadevpur, West Bengal, died of head injuries when he hit his head against iron rods, after mud slid into the pit in which he was working along with Kajal Das (37) and Buddharam (23).
The trio was working on the foundation for a bridge across the Kosasthalaiyar river at Pattarai Perumbudur near Tiruvallur.
The construction was part of the road expansion work on Chennai-Tirunindravur-Tirupati highway.
Police said the bridge was under construction for the past six months and about 30 workers were engaged.
Police sources said that the three labourers were erecting iron rods inside a 30-foot-deep pit to raise a pillar for the bridge, when mud slid on them.
Fellow labourers rescued Kajal Das, also from West Bengal, and Buddharam of Chhattisgarh, and rushed them to a nearby hospital. Tiruvallur fire personnel recovered the body of Subhash. “They were fixing rods to set up a pillar. Subhash hit his head against the rods and suffered injuries. We are on searching for in-charge,” a police official said.
A case under IPC section 304A was registered and police are on the lookout for the contractor.