Three construction labourers died and five were injured at an accident around midnight in the Sirpur Paper Mills (SPM) in Kagaznagar town of Kumram Bheem Asifabad district. Loose soil from the top fell on the labourers who were working at the bottom of a pit, resulting in some of them being buried.
According to reports, a deep pit was dug to erect a boiler for the 4th paper mill plant inside the SPM and eight labourers were involved in rod binding work inside a pit when the accident occurred.
The deceased, all from Jharkhand, were employed by a contractor who was tasked to erect the boiler. They were identified as Raghunath Ram, 38, Chotu Bahniya, 25 and Ranjit, 25, all from Chatarpur in Jharkhand.
The injured, two of them seriously, were admitted to Mancherial hospital and were identified as Mallu Ranidas, Santosh Ram, Parikhan Ram, Ram Pranet and Sanjay Ram, also from the same place. A post-mortem on the bodies was performed at the Sirpur (T) hospital.
The SPM reopened in 2018 after suspension of production in September 2014. The Nizam era mill was handed over to JK Paper Limited to commence operation.
