Four minor boys of a bordering village in North Dinajpur district died when a heap of earth fell on them on Monday afternoon while they were watching the work initiated by the BSF to deepen a drain near the India-Bangladesh border.

Both the police and the BSF have initiated a probe after the incident. Trinamul leaders, reacting to the incident, have blamed the BSF.

Sources said over the past few days, the BSF had taken up the task to widen a drain near the international border at Chetanagach village in Chopra block of North Dinajpur district.

On Monday afternoon, an excavator was engaged to dig the earth to widen the drain. Along with some local residents, the boys were also standing nearby, watching the work.

“Suddenly, a portion of the unfinished drain collapsed and the boys got buried under it. We rushed to help them,” said Abdul Mani, a villager.

Along with BSF personnel, locals rushed the quartet to the primary health centre in Dolua of Chopra, but doctors pronounced them dead.

The deceased were Golam Mustafa, 5, Yusuf Ali, 6, Md Islam, 5, and Taleb Ali, 12.

“On the way to the health centre, two of them were still breathing, but collapsed a few moments before we reached the hospital,” Mani added.

As the news spread, hundreds of villagers assembled at the site. A section of them alleged that the BSF was carrying out the widening work in a precarious manner.

“We lost four boys. The BSF should have taken more care to ensure no one could get close to the site. How can they engage a payloader for work with little boys standing close?” asked an agitated villager.

Chopra police managed to disperse the protesting villagers.

“A probe is on,” said Joby Thomas, the SP of Islampur police district.

Kanika Bhowmik, sabhapati of the Trinamul-run Chopra panchayat samiti, said: "We had no information that the BSF had taken up the work."

State minister Chandrima Bhattacharya slammed the BSF.

“We learnt that though the boys were buried, the BSF, instead of rescuing them, went ahead with work. Eventually, when the boys were taken to hospital, they died,” she said, adding governor C.V. Ananda Bose, who visited Sandeshkhali on Monday, should also "visit this village in Chopra".

The minister added that a thorough probe must be made into this incident.