At least four women were killed and several others were injured when the furnace of a brick kiln in Patna district on Monday.

The incident happened at Byapur village under the Maner police station area, around 32km west from the state capital.

All the deceased and injured were working as labourers at the kiln.

Eyewitnesses said the mishap occurred during the removal of bricks from the pit or furnace of the kiln in the morning.

A heap of bricks fell on the workers. Three of the deceased were from the Gumla district of Jharkhand while one was from the Gaya district in Bihar.

“Around eight persons were trapped under the bricks after the collapse. The locals and our personnel rescued the labourers and rushed them to the sub-divisional hospital at Danapur.

“Four women died there while undergoing medical treatment. Four others are admitted there,” Maner station house officer Rajeev Ranjan told reporters.

The post-mortem of the dead has been conducted and their families have been informed.

Meanwhile, chief minister Nitish Kumar expressed grief over the incident and directed the state labour resources department to provide all possible financial help to the next of kin of the deceased and necessary medical facilities to the injured.