Digging for bullet shells,5 buried alive

In a gruesome incident,five labourers were buried alive under a mound of soil in Lucknow Cantonment area on Tuesday afternoon during a digging operation.

According to the police,seven labourers,all residents of Arjunganj Machalkheda village in Gosainganj area,were digging out copper bullet shells from a 30-feet high mound when it collapsed on them. The mound,behind the Cantonments Butchery Ground,used to be the target point for the Armys shooting range.

Superintendent of Police (East) Rajesh Kumar said while five men were completely buried,two managed to partially come out and shout for help.

The locals pulled out two labourers,Rajjan and Indrapal,from the soil heap. While Indrapal is admitted at Civil Hospital,Rajjan suffered minor injuries.

With the help of two earthmovers,bodies of five labourers Rajendra (35),Suresh (45),Niranjan (40),Sarvjeet (20) and Sri Ram (30) were found after digging for more than an hour.

Kumar said all of them were dead when they were brought out of the soil.

The SP said Rajjan later said the labourers had come to the place to collect bullet shells.

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Sureshs son Suraj said his father was a daily wager who used to go to work at different place.

My family had no information about where my father had gone. It was only when Rajjan later informed us about what has happened that we arrived here. He was recovered dead from the soil, he said.

Sureshs brother Shamsher said the family had no information that his brother had come to collect empty bullet shells. He had never told the family about anything like that. He just said he was going to work like every day, he said.

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