Worker dies as landslide hits harbour road work site

Cops  register case against contractor, site supervisor

Vasco: A labourer from Jharkhand died after he got trapped under debris after a landslide hit an ongoing retaining wall construction site near the harbour area in Mormugao on Monday morning. Three other workers escaped, one with minor injuries.

The deceased, Manoranjan Bind, got trapped under mud and debris when a portion of the slope collapsed during road widening and retaining wall work.

Mormugao DySP Gurudas Kadam said four labourers were engaged at the site when the mud suddenly caved in. He said the Mormugao police have registered a case against the contractor and the site supervisor for allegedly carrying out haphazard hill cutting.

Teams from the Mormugao Police, Vasco fire station, Mormugao Port Authority, CISF, Deputy Col-lector’s office and the Mamlatdar’s office launched rescue operations. After extensive digging, Bind’s body was recovered from beneath the mud.

“Prima facie, rainfall received on Sunday appeared to have loosened the soil, leading to the collapse,” said South Goa Collector Egna Cleetus, who visited the site.

“Authorities had already flagged possible landslides along the nearly two-kilometre stretch and precautionary work was underway,” she said, adding that slope protection and retaining wall work was being carried out by the National Highways wing of the PWD.

Cleetus said excavation work at the site had been completed around eight days earlier and labourers had returned on Monday to carry out remaining work when the incident occurred.

Cleetus said directions had been issued to the PWD National Highways division to complete the pending work within one to two weeks and ensure adequate safety measures across the vulnerable stretch to prevent further incidents.

Mormugao police registered a case of unnatural death and further investigations are in progress.