Death toll in India's Uttar Pradesh stone quarry collapse rises to 7

The death toll from the collapsed stone quarry in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh rose to seven on Tuesday with rescue operation underway, officials said.

The stone quarry collapsed while the laborers were busy drilling inside it on Saturday in the Billi Markundi mining area of Sonbhadra district, about 415 km southeast of Lucknow, the capital city of Uttar Pradesh.

"After the incident, one body was recovered on Sunday. On Monday, the rescuers from National Disaster Response Force and State Disaster Response Force retrieved five more bodies," an official said. "Today, as the search operation at the spot entered the third straight day, one more body was traced and pulled out from the rubble, thus taking the death toll to seven."

The officials said the search operation will continue until the debris and stones are cleared from the quarry.

Meanwhile, authorities have ordered a probe into the incident.

xinhua