Soil cave-in at UGD site in Thanjavur leaves one dead
THANJAVUR: Two persons part of a team engaged in replacing an underground drainage (UGD) pipeline in Thanjavur were trapped in a 15-foot-deep trench dug up for the work after soil heaped on the side suddenly caved in on Monday evening. While both were rescued after an hours-long operation and sent to the Government Thanjavur Medical College Hospital (TMCH), one of them died the same night without responding to treatment.
Following complaints of leakage in the UGD pipe network in Pookkara Vilar Road at Jagannathan Nagar, the trench was dug up to lay new pipes. On Monday evening, four engaged in the work at the spot decided to call it a day and resume labour the next morning. While two came out, the soil heaped on the side gave in when the remaining workers were climbing up, Mayor S Ramanathan told TNIE.
Following this, M Jayanarayanamurthy (27) of Deveboomi Nagar in Mariammankoil and P Devendran (32) of Valappampatti in Pudukkottai district were trapped under the soil.
The fire and rescue services personnel along with volunteers rescued Devendran first and sent him to TMCH. After a few hours into the operation, Jayanarayanamurthy was pulled out. While he too was sent to TMCH, he died later that night, sources said.