Jalpaiguri/Gangtok, Jun 18: Two labourers died and five were injured in an accident during tunnelling operation for the Sevoke-Rangpo rail line project in West Bengal's Kalimpong district, a senior police officer said on Friday.
Rock and mudslide occurred during tunneling work at Bhalu Khola in the Melli police station area on Thursday night, Kalimpong's Superintendent of Police Harekrishna Pai said.
"Due to continuous rain, strata of tunnel face on the Bhalu Khola side toppled. This resulted in two deaths and five more were injured," said another senior police officer of Kalimpong.
All the seven trapped labourers were taken to the district hospital, where two of them were declared brought dead, Pai said. While two of the injured persons were sent to the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH) in Siliguri, the rest three who suffered minor injuries were under treatment at the district hospital, Pai said.
The deceased were identified as Saiku Murmu and Naresh Soren of Jharkhand, he said. The injured were Sufal Hembram, Sukeswar Singh, Thakur Das and Ashok Singh from Jharkhand and Kundan Singh from Chapra in Bihar, the officer said.
Sufal Hembram and Thakur Das were referred to NBMCH, he said. The new railway line from Sevoke in West Bengal to Rangpo in Sikkim will connect the Himalayan state to the country's railway network.
