CHENNAI: A 25-year-old lorry driver was killed when a truck plunged into a 250-foot-deep pit at a stone quarry in Cheyyur in the early hours of Wednesday.

According to the police, the lorry, loaded with blue metal, was climbing a ramp road at a private quarry in Periya Venmani village, Chengalpattu district, when the ground suddenly caved in. The vehicle slid nearly 250 feet into the pit and overturned.

Residents rushed to help but were unable to reach the spot, fearing further landslides. On being alerted, Cheyyur police and a rescue team arrived with cranes and, after several hours of effort, retrieved the lorry and the driver’s body.

The police said the victim, a native of North India, had been buried under sand and died of suffocation. The body was sent to the Madurantakam Government Hospital for post-mortem examination.

Revenue officials and officers from the Department of Geology and Mining later inspected the site and began an inquiry into the quarry’s safety measures. The officials suspect that heavy rain the previous day may have loosened the soil, triggering the collapse.