One labourer dead, five hurt in Lucknow accident

LUCKNOW - One labourer was killed and five were injured Saturday when a freshly dug trench caved in at an under-construction area here. While the labourers claim the area had statues of Mayawati and BSP founder Kanshi Ram, officials said it was a private property.

“The dead man has been identified as Prabhu and we are sending his body for post-mortem after which we will make arrangements to have the body transported to his home”, said a district official at the hospital.

The labourers belonged to a neighbouring district and had no idea about the location of the place where the tragedy occurred.

The injured labourers said the place had a statue of Chief Minister Mayawati and her mentor the late Kanshi Ram.

“We belong to Sitapur so we don’t know the name of the place where we were engaged to work; but I can tell you it was a big area with a statue of Mayawati and Kanshi Ram,” said Mustaqeem, one of the injured labourers.

Sundar, another labourer who was injured, also confirmed that the place had statues of Mayawati and Kanshi Ram apart from elephants, the symbol of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

But district officials said the accident took place on a private property on Jopling Road.

Meanwhile, the contractor, who had brought the injured to the government-run Lohia hospital, slipped out of the hospital.