Aizawl: At least eight people were killed and 4 others are believed to be still missing under the debris of a stone quarry that collapsed at Maudarh village in south Mizoram’s Hnahthial district on Monday, an official said.
Hnahthial district sub-deputy commissioner Dr Lalramdintlunga said that 8 bodies out of 12 people reportedly missing have been recovered from the debris of the massive landslide at the stone quarry till Tuesday evening.
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Of the 8 victims, four hailed from West Bengal, 2 from Jharkhand and one from neighbouring Assam’s Cachar district, he said.
2 each of the four missing persons hailed from Mizoram’s Lunglei district and Assam, he added.
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Hnahthial district deputy commissioner R. Lalremsanga said that the rescue operation is still going on and will continue till all the missing persons are recovered.
Of the 12 persons, 4 were employees of ABCI Infrastructures Pvt Ltd while 8 others were contractor employees, he said.
Five earth excavators, one stone crusher and a drilling machine were also completely buried under the debris, he said.
The area of the landslide is approximately 5,000 square metres, the DC added.
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The rescue operation is being monitored by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team, district administration, troopers of Assam Rifles and Border Security Force (BSF) and local volunteers, sources said.
Earlier, Hnahthial Superintendent of Police (SP) Vineet Kumar had said that the gory incident occurred at around 3 pm on Monday at Maudarh village, which is a 45-minute travel from Hnahthial town.
13 people were working when a massive landslide occurred at the stone quarry and one worker managed to escape from the spot, the SP had said.
Eyewitnesses said that the workers had dug too deep and had upset the stability of the stone quarry resulting in the entire hill caving down on the workers.
The stone quarry is owned by the ABCI, which is executing a widening of a section of national highway-54 between Hnahthial town and Dawn village.
Officials sources said that the construction company will arrange transportation of the victims’ bodies to their respective villages.