Seven workers were killed and five others seriously injured when a large boulder collapsed at a quarry in Modapattan village on the outskirts of Bengaluru on Thursday. The rock fell from a height of about 40 feet on the laborers working below when the diggers were using the upper part of the shaft owned by Cauvery Company. The injured workers are mainly residents of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
A worker working in the mine told the media, About 18 workers were present at the site during the incident. The accident happened around 10:30pm local time (10:30pm GMT). The accident happened around 10:30pm local time (10:30pm GMT). Police and rescue teams were able to rescue several people trapped in the rubble. Rescue and search operations are still going on under the supervision of senior officials and the administration is trying to find out the exact cause of the accident. The administration has already contacted the families of the deceased and informed them.
Reacting to the tragedy, Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar termed the incident near Magadi Road as extremely unfortunate. He said administration officials were on the spot and as per initial reports it was not caused by an explosion., Instead, it is due to soil erosion. The chief minister said that a detailed report has been sought on whether the mine has been mined in accordance with government norms. He assured that the government will soon issue new guidelines for such mining across the state so that such incidents do not recur in future.