Krishnagiri: At least two migrant workers died on the spot and nine others were critically injured after a truck transporting them turned turtle in Krishnagiri district in the wee hours of Monday.
This mishap occurred at around 3.30 am when the truck driver tried to negotiate the first hairpin bend having low gradient path on Natrampalayam-Hogenakkal ghat section road, near Biligundulu of Anchetti taluk, police said.
The deceased victims are Lallu Singh (30) and his co-worker Boji Ram (30) both migrant workers from Chhattisgarh, died on the spot after the truck that transported them turned turtle.They, with nine others of their state worked for a bore-well rig operator as daily wage workers and were heading towards Hogenakkal from Natrampalayam at the time of mishap.
However, the rescue operation was delayed by two hours due to difficulty in getting help by the victims, as there was no mobile phone network of other operators at that place, except BSNL.
“As their mobile phones were of no use, the accident victims waited for help till our villagers reached the spot following information given by the passers-by,” M. Francis told reporters.
Francis, a fisherman of Biligundulu added, “the victims got trapped beneath the pipes transported by the truck along with the workers. We could not rescue them because of lack of tools to cut open the metal sheet used to cover the goods compartment of the truck.”
According to Francis, the vehicle jumped off the road and turned turtle after hitting the roadside parapet wall built to stop vehicles from falling into the gorge during accidents.
As many as 12 ‘fire tender and rescue department’ staffs, each five from Dharmapuri and Pennagaram and two others from Hogenakkal conducted the rescue operation headed by the station fire officers K. Raja and P. Paramasivam.
The rescue team saved nine migrant workers trapped inside the accident vehicle and also retrieved the dead bodies of Lalu Singh and Boji Ram. The injured victims were sent to Dharmapuri government medical college and hospital and Pennagaram government hospital.
A case was registered by the Anchetti police and further investigation is on.
