Gurugram, March 10 Seven labourers were killed and four others, including three Nepalese, were injured when a pile of soil collapsed on them at a construction site here, police said on Tuesday, adding that an FIR has been registered.
The district administration has set up an inquiry committee to investigate the matter.
The family of the deceased has alleged that the labourers were not provided with adequate safety measures at the construction site.
The incident occurred on Monday evening at the Signature Global Society in Gurugram's Sidhrawali area, they added.
DSP Bhiwadi, Rajasthan, Yogesh, told reporters that construction work of a Sewerage Treatment Plant (STP) was ongoing when a pile of soil suddenly collapsed, and some labourers (around 12-15) got trapped under the debris.
Upon receiving information, a police team from the Bilaspur Police Station, Gurugram, along with State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel reached the site and rescued the labourers.
They rushed them to a nearby hospital at Bhiwadi in Rajasthan, where seven of them were declared dead, the officials said.
Postmortem examination of the deceased will be conducted in Gurugram, the DSP said.
It appears that they died due to asphyxiation, officials said.
A Gurugram police spokesperson said that an FIR in connection with the incident has been registered under BNS sections 105 (deals with punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 125 (act endangering life or personal safety of others).
Talking to the media in Rajasthan's Bhiwadi, a kin of one of the deceased workers said the labourers were working several feet below when the pile of soil collapsed on them.
A kin of the deceased has also demanded Rs 50 lakh as compensation.
An injured worker said that the pile of soil suddenly collapsed on them, and they got buried under the debris.
At least two workers at the site said they had a miraculous escape, as shortly before the incident, they were sent to procure some material.
Rakesh, a labourer from Jharkhand, said he was sent to a store to get some material.
According to a Gurugram police statement, while six of the deceased, all males, hailed from Jharkhand, Satish belonged to Bharatpur in Rajasthan.
Among the four injured, Indrajit, Chhotelal and Shivkam Chaudhary are residents of Nepal, it said.
The police informed the family members of the victims, and they have reached the site.
On Tuesday, SDM Manesar Darshan Yadav also visited the accident site and examined it.
Satish's brother, Rameshwar, told reporters here that his brother, who had been working at the site for nearly a year, leaves behind a 3-year-old son, among other members of the family.
In a written complaint, Rameshwar stated that the construction work for the STP plant at Signature Global Company was being executed by a private construction company, where labourers were being made to work inside a deep, "kutcha" pit.
The complaint alleged that the construction company, the contractor, the project-in-charge, the site structure-in-charge, and the safety-in-charge officer failed to provide adequate safety arrangements and safety equipment.
This failure, the complaint asserted, led to the accident caused by the soil collapse, resulting in the deaths of the complainant's brother and the other labourers.
Gurugram Police said that they are also examining if there was a delay in alerting the police and district administration regarding the incident.
Meanwhile, the Gurugram district administration has ordered an inquiry into the incident.
Gurugram Deputy Commissioner, Ajay Kumar, has constituted a committee of officials, headed by the Sub Divisional Magistrate of Manesar, to investigate the matter.
The committee has been directed to conduct a detailed inquiry into the causes of the incident and submit its investigation report within a stipulated timeframe.
The district administration stated that the committee will conduct a thorough investigation into all aspects of the incident, determine accountability, and submit its report to the office of the Deputy Commissioner within the prescribed timeframe.