Labourer killed as under-construction bunker collapses in JK's Samba dist

A 40-year-old labourer died Sunday when the wall of an under-construction bunker collapsed in a village along the International Border (IB) in Jammu and Kashmir's Samba district, police said.

Another labourer was injured in the incident which took place at Nanga village in Ramgarh sector, a police official said.

He said the labourers were building the underground bunker near the house of one Roop Lal, when one of the walls collapsed suddenly, trapping them.

The labourers were rescued and shifted to a hospital where Raj Kumar (40), a local resident, was declared brought dead, the officials said, adding the body of the deceased was handed over to his family for last rites after completion of legal formalities.

Work on hundreds of underground bunkers for the safety of border residents facing Pakistani shelling is going on along the IB and Line of Control in five districts of Samba, Kathua, Jammu, Poonch and Rajouri.

In December 2017, the centre had sanctioned 14,460 bunkers at a cost of Rs 415.73 crore for the border residents in Jammu division. While 7,298 bunkers were sanctioned for the twin districts of Rajouri and Poonch along the LoC, 7,162 others were meant for the residents living along the IB in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts.