Several labourers from West Bengal are feared to be trapped inside debris after a stone quarry collapsed when they were working inside the White Stone Hill caves on Friday, March 4. The cave is located in Madahalli village in Bilikallu quarry area near Chamarajanagar district's Gundlupet. It is located around 200 kilometres from Bengaluru.
The hill collapsed while miners were working inside the cave, and big boulders of white stones rolled down the hill and collided with the tipper trucks and vehicles, causing them to overturn. The incident is said to have happened at around 12.15 pm on Friday. The stone quarry accident was reportedly caused due to landslides that happened at three different locations on Friday. Police said no casualties have been reported so far.
Several workers present there are feared to be trapped under these boulders. The police, fire department personnel and officials from the Department of Mines and Geology rushed to the spot along with the local villagers and carried out operations to rescue trapped workers from inside the mine.
The incident took place on land belonging to Mahendrappa, a resident of Bommalapura in Karnataka. One Hakeem had taken the land on lease for mining. However, Superintendent of Police (SP) Shivakumar said illegal mining was being carried out in the area.
According to The Hindu report, Gundlupet police said that at least eight persons were reported missing and four others were rescued. The four rescued persons have been hospitalised. The difficulty in moving large-size boulders and stones was impeding the rescue operation.
This is a developing story.
(With IANS inputs)