A tea estate worker was killed when earth caved in on a ' lane' (workers' quarters) at Kozhikkanam, near Elappara, on Monday morning.
The victim was identified as Bhagyam (Pushpa, 58), said the police. The accident took place at 5 a.m. when the earth caved in on the kitchen area of the lane where she was preparing food prior to moving to the workplace. She was trapped on the door of the kitchen under mounts of earth. Her husband and three children who were sleeping in the room next to the kitchen had a narrow escape.
Police and Fire and Rescue Services personnel from Peerumade, with the support of local people, took out the body from the mounts of earth and debris .
Isolated landslips were reported from the high range where the rain continued on Monday..
In another incident, a 52-year-old construction worker was killed when earth caved in at a construction site at Muthuvakudyi, near Adimali, around 4 p.m. He was identified as K.V. Poulose of Muthuvakudyi. The police said that the mounts of earth caved in while he was working at the site. Four others escaped from there. Though the other workers pulled him out of the debris and rushed to a hospital at Adimali, he was produced dead. His body was taken to the taluk hospital at Adimali for an autopsy.
