Vasai resident trapped in cave in at Ghodbunder, rescue operation in progress

A 38-year-old JCB operator has been trapped under 50 feet of soil after the excavation site caved in near Versova Bridge on Ghodbunder Road, on Wednesday. About seven to eight other workers, trapped inside the container office which fell along with the JCB into the enormous trench, were successfully rescued. The mishap took place at the construction site of Surya Regional Water Supply Scheme.

The NDRF team has launched an operation to rescue the JCB operator identified as Rikesh Yadav, a resident of Vasai, and it will take at least another 24 hours. The trapped JCB operator's brother-in-law Rajesh Yadav has alleged that Rikesh had complained to the site engineer about the loose soil.

JCB operator Rikesh Yadav, 38, is trapped under 50 feet of soil. Pics/Hanif Patel

According to the police official, the incident occurred on Wednesday night at around 9.30 pm while JCB operator Yadav was excavating the soil at the site near Versova Bridge. When the walls of the trench caved-in the JCB machine and the container office plummeted into the trench. The JCB was buried under 50 feet of soil while the container was partially buried. Motorists on the Western Express Highway rushed to the spot and rescued 7-8 people from the site.

Speaking to mid-day, Rikesh's brother-in-law Rajesh Yadav said, "Rikesh told me that this soil is not in proper condition and it can collapse at any time. He also complained regarding the same to the site engineer. The site engineer didn't stop the work and continued working, taking all the risks. Rikesh is trapped under the soil and I don't know if he is still alive or not. The police should take action against the site engineer for endangering Rikesh's life." He lamented that it has been over 20 hours since the incident and Rikesh has not been rescued.

NDRF has launched an operation to rescue Rikesh Yadav

A police officer said, "We are trying our best and taking the help of the NDRF team to rescue JCB operator Rikesh Yadav, who is trapped under the soil. We are concerned about Yadav's safety. Earlier, seven-eight people inside the container trapped under the soil were successfully rescued."

Hampering the rescue operations is the nature of the soil which seems prone to further cave ins. "The NDRF team is making tunnels inside this debris and removing all the soil, shifting it to other places. It is likely for the soil to further cave in at this site, which is causing difficulties in the rescue operation. We suspect that the cave-in may have happened due to the creek in the vicinity. Till now, we haven't registered any FIR in this matter and are focusing on rescuing JCB operator Yadav," said a police officer.

Motorists on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway had lent their hand to rescue the workers. Pics/Hanif Patel

The Surya Regional Water Supply Scheme is being developed by the Maharashtra Metropolitan Regional Development Authority, and this scheme will supply 403 MLD capacity of bulk water to 44 villages of Mira Bhayandar and Vasai Virar Municipal Corporation.