The death toll in the stone quarry collapse in Uttar Pradesh's Sonbhadra district has climbed to seven with another body being recovered from the rubble, officials said on Tuesday. The rescue operations are now over, they said. According to the district administration, the seventh body has been identified as that of Gulab Kharwar (32), a resident of Obra police station area of Sonbhadra. Kharwar's body was recovered on Monday evening. UP Minister of State for Social Welfare, Scheduled Castes and Tribal welfare Sanjeev Gond also confirmed that the death toll has reached seven.
The other deceased were identified as Indrajit (30), Santosh Yadav (30), brother of Indrajit, Ravindra alias Nanak (18), Ramkhelavan (32) and Kripashankar. The body of Raju Singh (30) was recovered on Sunday. District Magistrate BN Singh, in the presence of Superintendent of Police Abhishek Verma, told reporters on Tuesday that relief work was initiated immediately after the accident. Within a few hours, NDRF and SDRF officials, along with their teams, arrived at the scene and began rescue operations. Removing a large stone consumed significant time and posed difficulties. "Seven bodies have been recovered from the debris. All bodies have been handed over to their families after conducting a post-mortem examination," the DM said. He added that the superintendent of police, NDRF, SDRF, and mine safety officials also went down to the site of the mishap and observed that there is no possibility of anyone being buried.
The NDRF team has thoroughly removed the debris twice, so there is no possibility of anyone being there now. The district magistrate said that since the search is complete and there is no information about anyone being there, the relief and rescue work is now over. Minister Gond and Robertsganj MP Chotelal Kharwar had earlier claimed that around a dozen workers could be trapped in the rubble after a portion of the quarry operated by Krishna Mining Works collapsed on Saturday evening. The state government has announced a three-tier probe into the incident by the police, mining and district administration. UP minister Ravindra Jaiswal, who met the families of the victims on Monday, said each deceased worker's family will receive around Rs 20 lakh from the government and all affected labourers will be fully supported under schemes run by the Labour Department. Jaiswal said strict action will be taken against those found guilty of illegal mining or violating safety standards.
The police have booked the owner of Krishna Mining Works and his business partners, Madhusudan Singh and Dilip Keshari, both residents of Obra, on a complaint by Parsoi Tola resident Chhotu Yadav, who said his two brothers (deceased Indrajit and Santosh Yadav) were trapped under the rubble, Sonbhadra Superintendent of Police (SP) Abhishek Verma had said. The three accused are yet to be arrested.