Two Workers Buried Alive After Construction Site Caves In

A cave-in occurred at a construction site in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, resulting in two workers being buried alive over the weekend, according to authorities.

Four workers were cleaning the site located in Maccharekorai near the city of Udhagamandalam Sunday when a portion of the earth caved in, newspaper the Times of India reported, citing police.

Half of the workers were able to save themselves, but the remaining two were caught under the soil, according to the outlet.

Fire and rescue personnel later arrived at the scene and retrieved the bodies, which were then sent to a government hospital for postmortem.

Thiru S.P. Amrith, the district collector and district magistrate of Tamil Nadu's Nilgiris district, visited the scene with senior officials, according to the report.

An inquiry has been ordered to determine whether the construction work was illegal.

In a similar story that happened nearly a month ago in New York City's Bronx neighborhood, a 22-year-old woman survived an incident that saw a boom truck's crane collapsing on her vehicle.

Danielle Cruz was stopped at a red light on Bedford Park Boulevard on Sept. 20 when a boom truck lifting materials at a nearby construction site collapsed.

The truck's 40-foot crane ended up crashing on the windshield of Cruz's car.

"The whole thing came down on my car, it happened fast and slow at the same time. I remember the glass shattering and hitting me and the roof of the car caving down and hitting my head," Cruz was quoted as saying by NBC New York.

Multiple people ran over to the scene to help, footage of the incident showed.

"I tried to get out of the car, and the door wasn't opening so this guy ran to the car and he like opened the door and grabbed me," Cruz said.

Cruz suffered a hand injury as a result of the incident. She was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital in stable condition, according to police.

The operator of the boom truck was not seriously hurt.

The operator went against manufacturer safety instructions by extending the boom at a high angle to lift about 1,600 pounds of metal bars, investigators later found, CBS News reported.

Inspectors also found that the construction project did not have proper city permits for the installation of wiring and pipes, among other code violations.

The general contractor for the construction project was All State 12 General Constructing Corporation, according to New York City's Department of Buildings.

The department will issue additional violations to the operator and the general contractor.