Landslide kills six labourers in Sargodha

The men were working on a stone crushing site near Awanabad area

SARGODHA: Six labourers were killed while working on a stone crushing site in Sargodha on Wednesday.

According to rescue officials, about eight labourers were working at the site when a landslide occurred. The workers, named Abid, Bashir, Shahid, Kamran, Aijaz and Falak Bashir, were busy working in block 13 near Awanabad area of Sargodha’s rural village Chak 126 when an avalanche suddenly trapped them.

According to witnesses, the incident took place when they began climbing up a mountain using ropes so they could place explosives. However, before they could reach their designated position, a landslide occurred, taking the labourers with them.

Rescue 112 teams immediately reached the site and began the operation. Soon the body of one labourer was pulled out while rescue operations continued to save the remaining workers.

The body of Falak Sher was recovered from the debris and taken to a hospital in Sillanwali. Other labourers Abid, Basheer, Shahid, Kamran and Ejaz were from Chiniot’s Laliyan district while Falak Bashir belonged to Sargodha’s village 107 South.

Approximately, nine people had died in the area in similar accidents over the last 15 days.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 28^th, 2017.