DUWAKOT (BHAKTAPUR), Oct 28: Five persons were killed after they were trapped in a landslide at a hazardously run sand mine at Duwakot-5 in Bhaktapur district Wednesday. Two of the dead were sand miners and three were truck hands helping transport the sand. [break]
The deceased have been identified as Chanchali Thing, 48, of Dandagaun in Kavre, Phurba Tamang, 28, of Doramba-6 in Ramechhap district, Krishna Prasad Phuyal, 30, and Rohit Ghimire, 28, of Chyama-4, Dolakha, and Dawa Sherpa, 45, also of Dolakha. Phuyal and Ghimire were cousins working as truck hands for truck no. Ba.2.Kha 4033 and Phurba Tamang worked with another truck (Ba.2.Kha 5832).
Three sand miners were rescued by the Armed Police Force (APF) and locals immediately after the incident as they managed to struggle and raise their torsos above the trench they were working in. They were taken to Bhaktapur Hospital and are said to be out of danger. They have been identified as Devimaya Lama and Ram Bahadur Lama of Shikhardanda, Kavre and Asmita Lama of Nagarkot, Bhaktapur.
The landslide took place around 6:30 a.m., according to Ganga Banstola, a local who was working in a nearby paddy who saw the 140 feet or so high pile of dug up mud sliding down toward the narrow trench at the bottom of the mine. "Just a few minutes before, they had greeted me and started working the mine. I was shocked and simply started yelling for help," she told myrepublica.com.
Over 30 laborers had reached the sand mine before sunrise. Two trucks had pulled up over the edge to load the sand and the truck hands had also climbed down into the mine. According to Padam Lama, who succeeded in escaping from the tumbling mass with a minor leg injury, the deceased were those who had been working inside the six feet deep by 10 feet wide trench. The three rescued were only partially suffocated as they were carrying the sand above the trench.
"It was utter confusion and those who were above the trench carrying sand managed to survive. The trench had a single way out and it was not any good in an emergency," Lama said.
The landslide was at the south side of the sand mine. It took nearly four hours for nearly 300 APF personnel from Guheshwari Brigade and locals to excavate the debris and find the deceased.
This is the second time that frequent landslides in the sand mines of Duwakot has resulted in death. Two years ago, a similar incident killed a sand miner and injured many others. Sitaram Gautam, 39, of Chyama-6 in Dolakha, one of the injured in that incident who has since been paralyzed in the lower limbs, was found weeping near the sand mine Wednesday morning as a worse fate has now befallen his cousins Krishna Phuyal and Rohit Kumar Ghimire. "They died and I am dying every day unable to make a living," he said.
According to locals, a local man, Saroj Thapa, has been operating the sand mine in Duwakot-5 since last year. Locals claimed that Thapa has no legal permission to run the sand mine and he had even encroached public land in doing so.
"We complained to the police many times but they did not care. A calamity was impending," said a local. "Once some cops did come here but turned back without doing anything after the contractor (Thapa) publicly accused them of taking Rs 80,000 from him."
Locals have demanded prosecution of the contractor, who apparently did not care for the safety of the sand miners, and compensation for the victims´ families. Most of the sand miners are found to reside in Duwakot with their families.
"If the administration does not take the incident seriously, it might not be the last as there are many illegally and hazardously operated sand mines here," said a local who preferred anonymity.
Chief of Metropolitan Police Range Bhaktapur, SP Pushpa Ranjit, said he is investigating the legal status of the sand mine.
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