Two workers die while laying sewer line in Noida

Two contractual workers died early Friday after they allegedly got stuck underground while laying a sewer line here, according to officials.

The workers, engaged by the Noida Authority via a contractor for the work in the Salarpur area, had got stuck late Thursday night, they said.

Police and the Fire Department were alerted and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) was also called, the officials said.

The bodies of the workers were retrieved after nearly four-hour rescue operation by the deep-diving team of the NDRF, an NDRF official said.

"We reached the spot at 3.15 am and began operations at 3.20 am. The first body was recovered at 6.25 am and the second at 7.20 am," Jeetender Yadav, who led the nine member NDRF team, told PTI.

The deceased have been identified as Amit and Salman, the officials said.

The Noida Authority has dismissed a contractual junior engineer over the incident and proposed police action against the contractor who was handling the project, an official said.

"The JE has been dismissed and a complaint is being made against the contractor with the police to register an FIR over the lapses that led to the death of the two workers," Noida Authority's Officer on Special Duty Rajesh Kumar Singh said.