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Mizoram stone quarry collapse: 8 bodies recovered, 4 workers still missing
Eight bodies were recovered on Tuesday, a day after a stone quarry collapsed following landslide in Mizoram’s Hnahthial district, government officials said, adding four people were still feared missing.
Eight bodies were recovered on Tuesday, a day after a stone quarry collapsed following landslide in Mizoram’s Hnahthial district, government officials said, adding four people were still feared missing.
According to officials, 13 people were working at the stone quarry at Maudarh village on Monday when a massive landslide hit the nearly 5,000 sq metre area around 3pm. While one worker managed to escape unhurt, 12 were feared trapped under the debris.
“Of the 12 people who were reportedly missing, eight bodies have been recovered from the debris till 7am on Tuesday,” said Hnahthial deputy commissioner R Lalremsanga. “Search operation will continue till all missing persons are found.”
Out of the eight deceased, five were from West Bengal, two from Jharkhand, and one from Assam, a district official said, requesting anonymity.
Lalremsanga, who is also the chairman of district disaster management authority, said the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team comprising two officers and 13 staff members arrived at the accident site on Tuesday morning.
Of the 12 people reportedly missing, four were employees of ABCI Infrastructures private limited while eight others were contractual employees, the deputy commissioner said.
The stone quarry is owned by ABCI, which is executing widening of a section of national highway between Hnathial town and Dawn village. Five earth excavators, one stone crusher and a drilling machine were completely buried under the debris, he said.
Among the deceased was Rakesh Biswas (22), a resident of Tehatta in West Bengal’s Nadia district, who had gone to work in Mizoram eight days ago.
“We came to know about the incident from a village youth. His mother and sister have been crying inconsolably since we got the news around 1 pm,” said Kalu Biswas, his father.
The 22-year-old was closer to his cousin’s husband Bhubanchandra Mondol, a state government employee, and the last spoke on Sunday evening.
“It was a usual chat. He told me it they were staying in the hills and it was cold out there,” said Mondol. “He also said that the market was a few km away and they had to cook their food.”
Buddhadeb Mondol (25) lived next door from Biswas’s in Tehatta and the two came to work at the quarry together.
“Rakesh and my brother Buddhadeb went together to work. The had earlier been to Odisha and Maharashtra for work. I spoke to him on last Wednesday, a day after they had left home,” said Sukanta Mondol, a wage labourer and Buddhadeb’s brother. “They were yet to reach the spot and he said it would take another three hours.”
The 25-year-old had last spoken to his mother on Monday afternoon, a few hours before the tragedy hit.
