Bantwal : Three labourers lost their lives when a hillock caved in, on an under construction building near Farangipete on Saturday.

The deceased have been identified as Millon (27), Thorikul (30) and Maimun (26). All three hail from Natima in West Bengal.

They were working on a building behind Pudu Gram Panchayat building, owned by Sayyed Bava. A total of five labourers were engaged in the work when the hillock caved in.

The building work is in progress on survey number 31/1A3 behind Pudu Gram Panchayat building.

The work on a three-storeyed building was initiated six months ago. The residents alleged that inspite of Gram Panchayat urging the owner to construct a retaining wall before levelling the hillock, the contractor had violated the condition and building is being constructed on an unscientific manner.

Initially, the contractor had constructed a retaining wall of 10 feet height and pillars were adjacent to the hillock. Five labourrers from West Bengal who had come to the construction site a month ago were just commencing their work after lunch hour when the mishap occurred. Mason Kuthub and labourer Shafeedulla were on the top of the hillock.

The remaining three were on the ground undertaking centring work when the slime caved in from the hillock. Shafeedulla was thrown on a heap of soil while Kuthub fell on the centring pillar and was injured. The three labourers were buried alive amidst a heap of soil and died of asphyxiation.

The fire service personnel from Mangaluru and Bantwal rushed to the spot and carried out the rescue operation. After one and half hours of operation, rescue team could retrieve the bodies.

The bodies have been sent to Wenlock Hospital for post mortem.The police have filed a case against Sayyed Bava for constructing an unscienfic building and against PDO Savitha for issuing permits for such building. SP S D Sharanappa, ASP Rahul Kumar, Probationary SP Manjunath and others were present.