TIRUCHY: A worker was buried alive while another was rescued with injuries when they were engaged in well desilting work at Tiruvidaimarudur in Thanjavur on Friday.

Panneer Selvam (50), from Vijayagampettai near Tiruvidaimarudur, deployed workers Balu (48), Marudhavanan (40), Kannan (60) and Sekar (61), all from Narasingapettai, to desilt an irrigation well on his land ahead of kuruvai cultivation. They have been clearing the silt for the past four days, with plans to deepen the well.

On Friday, while they were digging the well 15 feet deep, the mud collapsed. Balu and Marudhavanan were trapped inside, while the other two escaped. Soon, the fire and rescue personnel rushed to the spot and commenced the rescue operation. They lifted Marudhavanan alive with earth movers, while they could not rescue Balu, even after an hour of operation. Later, they retrieved his body and sent it to the GH.

A probe found that the workers got buried when they tried to remove a tree root inside the well without proper safety measures.