A 22-year-old worker died after he lay trapped under a column of soil nearly 10 feet beneath the ground near the Park Circus seven-point crossing on Wednesday night while working on a Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) project to relay underground pipes.
Police said Chhalman Mallick, a contractual worker from Nazat, in the Sandeshkhali sub-division of North 24-Parganas, was taken to the Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital, where he was declared dead.
Civic officials said soil from above fell twice on him while he was working inside a pit. An officer of the Park Circus traffic guard said Mallick was looking down when soil first fell on him around 9.30pm. As other workers tried to go down to rescue him, another huge layer of soil fell on him.
A payloader was brought to scoop out the soil and locate the worker.
“Shutterings made of wooden planks are always built around a pit to prevent subsidence from the edges. But the pit under Suhrawardy Avenue, where Mallick was working, had no shuttering,” said a KMC official.
“He had probably gone down to clean the bottom of the pit so planks could be inserted into the soil before installing the shutterings.”
Some workers told police that Mallick was part of the team that connected two underground pipes minutes before the accident.
“The workers said Mallick went to clear the soil that had started trickling down and got stuck as soil kept pouring in a steady stream,” said an officer of Beniapukur police station.
The workers said Mallick lay trapped under soil and sand for about 15 minutes before a pay loader was brought to rescue him.
“There was a sudden cave-in on Wednesday night and the youth got trapped. We brought him out and took him to the Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital, where he was declared dead,” the officer said
“The incident is very unfortunate and the KMC will stand by the family of the deceased. A team of officials will find out the cause of the disaster,” mayor Firhad Hakim said on Thursday. “The work on relaying the pipes shouldn’t get stalled before the monsoon.”
Pipe laying work at the site was stopped with a number of workers saying they were fearing for their lives without adequate protection. The work did not start till late on Thursday, KMC officials said.
The area around the Don Bosco island on Suhrawardy Avenue and stretches around it, including the Park Circus Maidan, is infamous for waterlogging, residents said. A spell of moderate rain is enough to flood the area.
KMC officials said old underground sewage lines in the area are being replaced to ensure that water drains out fast.
Officials said there are protocols for workers involved in such projects to avoid accidents. The contractor was told in advance to strictly adhere to them. “We will find out whether the protocols were followed,” said an official.