‘Saw them being buried under a heap of soil within a matter of seconds‘

“I screamed ‘niklo, niklo’ (get out) as soon as I saw the soil loosening and caving in. But they had very little time to move. I saw them being buried under a heap of soil. All this unfolded within a matter of seconds,” said Srinivas, who runs a condiments stall directly opposite the spot where the under-construction BDA underpass caved in on Tuesday.

Srinivas had opened his shop about an hour earlier and had exchanged greetings with the construction workers at the site. He knew them, as the work had been in progress for some time.

“I was looking at my phone when I felt something moving in front of me. I shifted my gaze and saw a portion of the wall caving in,” he recalled.

Minutes before mishap

The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) was preparing to concretise the retaining wall along the dug-up portion, which spans approximately 100 meters and is about 20 feet deep.

Manju, another eyewitness, said the workers had already pumped out the stagnant water that had accumulated at the site following the rain the previous night. Concrete vehicles had arrived at the spot, and the workers were tightening the reinforcement bars of the retaining wall.

“The deceased were at the far left, near the mud wall, while three other labourers were towards the centre. When the mud caved in, it buried both of the deceased, while the other three were only buried up to their necks,” said Manju.

Last-minute rescue

N. Babu, who also witnessed the sequence of events, said engineers at the site rushed in with other workers and rescued the three people who were almost completely buried.

“They used their bare hands to excavate the mud and pulled the three people out of the heap. They survived because, as soon as Srinivas screamed, they held on tightly to the reinforcement bars and stood firm. Otherwise, they too could have tripped and been buried,” he said.

“It took them about five minutes to comprehend what had happened after they were pulled out of the mud. Their eyes welled up as they realised they had narrowly escaped,” he said.

The labourers managed to retrieve one more person buried under the mud, and they shifted him to the hospital, but he was declared dead. However, they were unable to locate the other person who had been buried and had to call the Fire and Emergency Services. After an hour-long rescue operation, the body of the worker was retrieved.

What caused the mishap?

According to eyewitnesses, the portion of the wall that caved in had loosened mud following the rain on Monday. In addition, there was allegedly a mound of mud above the portion that caved in, adding to the weight. As the mud in the middle of the wall loosened, the entire portion collapsed, they claimed.

When The Hindu visited the spot, there were several portions along the stretch where excavated mud had been piled up, although the mounds were smaller.However, the piles were putting pressure on the boundary walls of the dug-up portion. A large concrete slab was also seen next to the caved-in portion.