Three trapped as quarry caves in

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Three persons were trapped under a heap of earth and rock in a mishap occurred at a quarry at Madhapuram, near Vembayam, in the outskirts of the capital city on Thursday. Two persons who were trapped under the rock and soil had been identified as Babu of Madhapuram near Vembayam and Chandran of Thenmala. The third person is suspected to be a Tamil worker. The huge mass of earth that caved in and the lack of a proper road to the accident site are hampering operations that extended late into the night. According to the police, the mishap occurred around 4.30 p.m. when the three victims were involved in excavating rocks using explosives. They were standing on top of a rock cliff when a portion of the cliff collapsed in the shock of an explosion at the quarry. Following the accident, District Collector Dinesh Arora has asked all quarries in the district to stop functioning with immediate effect. This is the second mishap in the district in consecutive days. Two persons had lost their lives in a mishap at a quarry at Vilappilsala, the previous day. According to official sources, there are a total of 181 licenced quaries in the district.