BENGALURU: Seven workers in a quarry died and at least six sustained injuries on Thursday morning as boulder fell on them in Madapattana under jurisdiction of Tavarekere police limits in-Ramanagara-Bengaluru south. The tragedy took place in the premises Cauvery Crushers, police said, adding that the accident took place when the huge boulders from caved in on a group of around 20 men working.One of the boulders fell on a group of workers, resulting in the death of seven workers, police said. The injured were shifted to RR Hospital on Mysuru road and two of them are in critical condition, police added. Eye witness account -Vinod Kumar, driver of an earth moving machine “There were around 20 men working in the site when the loose boulders crashed on them. We were just 10 feets away from the accident site. Seven men died on the spot and six of them sustained injuries,” he said. A woman, whose son identified as Rama Nayak, one of the deceased said she received the phone call around 7.30 am. “My son Rama Nayak and others were working since early morning. We are told that the tragedy took place around five am. We had come here for daily wages of around Rs 800 per day. Now my son is dead and who will look after our family?” she wept. Rama Nayak and his family hails from Yadgir in North Karnataka.Another worker-whose father Raju died in the accident said he shifted his father’s body. “I was driving the tractor when the accident took place. I was little away from the accident site. On reaching the spot, i saw the body of my father-Raju, lying alone in a spot. I shifted the body to a safe place,” he said. One of the worker and survivor in the tragedy, Gopi, who comes from Tamil Nadu said that no one cautioned them on the loose boulders. “Our supervisor should have told about the loose boulders. I was working with 20 men and we heard the sound, followed by crashing of boulders. In no time, the boulder fell near us. We ran for safety but others got crushed and died,” he said. MLA ST Somashekhar from Yeshvanthapura constituency said besides the quarry owner and manager, concerned government officials should be booked in the case. “I had raised the issue of illegal and unsafe quarrying activities in the assembly long before. Now, this tragedy has occurred and at least, seven men have died. Monetary compensation can be given; but will it bring back the lives of dead persons?” he asked.Deputy chief minister G Parameshwara said they will initiate action on all illegal quary activities in the state. “I will get details of the incident. There are many illegal quarries active, across the state and we will act against them,” he said.
