J&K tunnel collapse: 2 local labourers laid to rest, bodies of 8 others sent to hometowns

Two local labourers, who were among the 10 killed after a landslide hit an under-construction tunnel here, were laid to rest in their native Ramban district in Jammu and Kashmir, while the mortal remains of eight others were dispatched to their hometowns outside the union territory, officials said on Sunday.

Ten labourers – five from West Bengal, two each from Jammu and Kashmir and Nepal, and one from Assam – died after a landslide hit the mouth of the adit tunnel to T4 on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway near Khooni Nallah in Ramban on Thursday night.

While the body of one of the labourers was recovered on Friday, those of the nine others were retrieved during the day-long rescue operation on Saturday. After the landslide on Thursday, three injured workers had been rescued.

Deputy commissioner, Ramban, Mussarat Islam said bodies of the two local labourers –Muzaffar Sheikh (38) and Mohammad Ishrat (30) – were handed over to their family members within a few hours after being pulled out from under the debris.

Both were laid to rest at their ancestral graveyard near Panthiyal village in Ramban district late on Saturday, he said.

The remaining eight bodies -- Jadav Roy (23), Gautam Roy (22), Sudhir Roy (31), Deepak Roy (33) and Parimal Roy (38) of West Bengal, Nawaraj Chowdhury (26) and Khushi Ram (25) of Nepal and Shiva Chowhan (26) of Assam were shifted from Ramban to Jammu.

Nodal officers were contacted in West Bengal, Assam and Nepal, and accordingly, the bodies of the deceased were separately moved to Delhi. They are being handed over to their family members in their respective home towns, the officials said.