Three persons died and two others were injured in a landslide at a stone quarry at Turbhe in Navi Mumbai on Tuesday morning. While the police first registered a case of accidental death, they booked a person in charge of quarry operations for negligence later in the day. All the victims were conducting drilling work at the quarry when loose mud and stones began sliding down from the hilltop owing to incessant rainfall.
The incident took place at around 10.30 am at the Sainath Quarry in Rikunda village at the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) in Turbhe.
Polus Fansing Topoo (18), Lal Fansing Topoo (22), Musku Surin (25), Bhujal Kassap (23) and Ramesh Topu (25) were using drilling machines on the stones when loose soil and rocks, suspected to be triggered by heavy rainfall, began sliding down from the top and buried the five.
“After we got the information, we relayed it to the fire brigade and the disaster control and management cell of the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC). Firemen and tenders from the Vashi fire brigade reached the spot and removed their bodies. Polus, Lal and Musku have died, while Bhujal and Ramesh have been admitted with minor injuries at a local hospital,” said senior PI Suresh Bhosale of Turbhe police station.
Mr Bhosale added that they first registered an accidental death report (ADR) in the matter and later filed a case of death due to negligence against one Manan Shaikh. “Our inquiries have revealed that Shaikh directed operations at the quarry. Whether he was the owner or an employee is yet to be ascertained,” Mr Bhosale said. The deceased were migrant labourers and hailed from Jharkhand. Their bodies were later sent to Navi Mumbai Municipal Hospital at Vashi for a post-mortem.