COIMBATORE: A 52-year-old woman died in the Vellalore dump yard after she was allegedly trapped under waste unloaded by a truck on Thursday morning.
The deceased, identified as Sivakami (52), who collects and sells plastic waste for recycling, lived with her husband Murugan, a welding workshop worker, and four children at the Vellalore housing unit.
On Thursday morning, around 30 people including Sivakami and her elder daughter Ponni (25) were collecting waste at the dump yard, when Sivakami went missing and people went looking for her.
While digging waste, with an earthmover, they found her buried in the waste and unconscious. Immediately they called for 108 ambulance services, who examined Sivakami and declared her dead. Her body was sent to Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) for postmortem. Podanur police have been investigating the cause of death.
Police said it had not been confirmed if she was buried alive. "We are investigating to ascertain the cause of death - whether any garbage truck unloaded waste on her while she was collecting waste from landfills or if she fainted and fell into the landfill before the dumping. We can be clear only after the postmortem report, said a police officer.
A Coimbatore city municipal Corporation (CCMC) official said that the department had signed a contract with a private firm to segregate waste. "Locals trespass into the dump yard to collect such waste and sell waste for income. During such collection, she may have been trapped in the waste. We do not allow workers to handle the waste without precautionary measures. We are also inquiring about their entry into the landfill area and we will strengthen security measures to avoid similar incidents in future," the official said.