Chandigarh, Dec 7 (IANS) The toll in Sunday’s accident, in which a group of slum dwellers, including children, looking for scrap were buried alive after a dumper-truck partially overturned trapping them under loose earth, reached nine Monday after two more bodies were dug out.
All the victims belonged to families of labourers working on nearby under-construction buildings in the city’s Sector 31. They had come to the area to collect scrap.

The dead include four children.

The administration had stopped the search operation Sunday night after seven dead bodies were recovered. However, they had to start again Monday after getting complaints of two more missing people.

“Some people came to us in the morning and said that two more persons from their area were missing. Following this, we again started digging operations and recovered the bodies of Sukhan, 11, and Santosh, 19,” Deputy Superintendent of Police (south) J.S. Khaira said.

The incident took place when a big dumper-truck arrived in the open area to dump loose earth and other ‘malba’ (construction waste).

As the material was being dumped, the earth under the truck gave away and the loose earth in it fell on the people waiting below to collect scrap.

A husband-wife couple, who were dug out by rescuers, were taken to the nearby Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) where doctors said they were out of danger.

The dead were identified as Chandravati, 35, Jaiparkash, 22, Sukha, 13, Chandresh, 12, Rajvati, 35, and her son Johny, 9. One woman’s body was yet to be identified

The administration announced a compensation of Rs.100,000 to the families of each of the killed adults and Rs.50,000 to those of each of the children. The survivors, Indervati and her husband Bhagirath, would get assistance of Rs.25,000 each.