The rescue operation to retrieve a labourer buried under rocks after a landslide at a quarry area in this district, which started on Tuesday morning, was briefly suspended in the afternoon. The operation to remove the rocks was suspended as more rocks continued to slide on top of the place where the labourer and the excavator which he was driving are buried, said the district administration.
Even with the arrival of a huge crane from Karunagappally, in Kollam district, the rescue operation could not be restarted, said officials. The rescue operation, suspended on Monday following fresh landslides, resumed at 7 am on Tuesday. One of the workers was killed and another was stuck under rocks when a landslide occurred at a quarry site in Payyanamon near Konni here.
Four members of the special rescue team descended from ropes near the accident spot on Tuesday morning to inspect the excavator under which the other worker is suspected to be stuck.
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The rescuers took out a few of the smaller rocks manually from atop the excavator and then climbed back to safety.
They subsequently told the media that they heard no sound coming from inside the buried excavator. District Collector Prem Krishnan said that the rescuers went down to the trapped excavator to look for points where ropes could be hooked onto the excavator to pull it out. "Apart from that, we are procuring a 30-tonne capacity crane from Karunagappally to drag the excavator out of the rocks. Also as a back-up measure, we are procuring a large Hitachi from Alappuzha to lift the rocks," he informed the media here.
He also added that the rescuers were not able to determine whether there was anyone in the cabin of the excavator due to the massive rocks covering it. The accident occurred when a piece of rock and earth caved in on an excavator while carrying out the quarrying operations.
Two Odisha employees — Mahadev and Ajay Rai — were within the machine when the accident occurred. The body of one of the workers had been recovered, but the victim was yet to be identified formally. The employees had returned to work after lunch when the rocks collapsed.
A specialized 27-member unit of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), with Commander Sanjay Singh Malsuni at its head, arrived on the spot on Monday from Thiruvalla to assist the rescue operation.
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