TN: Worker's head severed as colleagues use earthmover to rescue him in trench

In a tragic incident, a worker's head was severed when his colleagues used an earthmover to frantically rescue him from a 13-foot trench in which he got buried here.

The man, identified as R Satish (34) of Erode district in Tamil Nadu, slipped and fell into the trench dug up to lay underground drinking water pipelines at Ramamurthy Nager here on Friday, a senior civic official said.

The trench suddenly caved in at the side and Satish who was near it fell and got buried alive. Immediately, his fellow workers attempted to rescue him without waiting for the police or fire and rescue services personnel, he said.

The frantic attempts to save Satish, working for a private contractor, failed to yield results and his head got chopped off when the loose soil was being removed with the help of an earthmover.

The Kudal Nagar police detained three men, including the earthmover operator, in connection with the incident.

Madurai Corporation Commissioner Simranjeet Singh Kahlon, who visited the site, said the loose soil had caved in and buried the worker.

The civic body has ordered a probe into the incident.

This incident comes close on the heels of the death of three workers due to asphyxiation during an attempt to fix an electric motor in a sewage collection well in Nehru Nagar here, recently.

Chief Minister M K Stalin condoled the death of Satish and expressed his sympathies to the bereaved family. He announced a solatium of Rs 5 lakh to his family. Further, another Rs 5 lakh would be provided to the family on behalf of the Tamil Nadu Unorganised Workers Welfare Board.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)