Hill Collapse: Army Engineering Team From Ranchi Arrives at Bariput

Jeypore:  Army engineers from Ranchi reviewed the situation at the accident site in Bariput where two JCB workers have been trapped for the last seven days following a hill cave in during stone quarrying operations.

Frantic efforts by NDRF personnel to rescue the two stricken workers from under a huge pile of boulders did not yield any results following which the army team was called in by the district administration.

The NDRF team was hamstrung by the absence of necessary equipment to move the huge boulders.

Sources said that the army team will deploy explosives to blast the boulders. Local residents have been advised to stay away from a radius of one km from the site in view of the intensified rescue operations.

The two JCB operators—Ghanashyam Guru of Deogarh and Sanjay Dash of Athagarh area in Cuttack district— were engaged in excavating boulders for the ongoing Telengiri Irrigation project in Bariput village when the hill suddenly caved in around 5 pm on May 31.

It may be mentioned that the Koraput Sub Collector in a letter on April 23 had requested the district administration and the police to take action against the company for its illegal stone quarrying between Ranigada village and Telengiri project. He had also ordered the seizure of two JCB machines and a compressor used in the quarrying.

It is not yet known under whose instruction the stone quarrying was going on at the place which is only 500 metres away from the Telengiri project.