Three men buried alive

AGRA - Three men were buried alive under mud while scooping out silt from a pond Sunday near this Uttar Pradesh city, police said.

The victims were identified as Rakesh, 18, Ajay, 19, and their uncle Sukhpal, 40, from Digrauta village, 20 km from the city.

As news of their death spread, hundreds of villagers rushed to the hospital and collected the bodies without allowing an autopsy, police said. The main road was blocked and policemen were attacked, an official said.

Police said the three, working under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, were filling up a tractor with scooped earth for building a village road when the mud caved in, burying them.