At least five labourers from Bengal were killed when a quarry caved in on Monday afternoon in Mizoram.

Three deceased men were from Nadia’s Tehatta and one each from Chapra in the same district and Sandeshkhali in North 24-Parganas.

They were Mintu Mondal, 22, Rakesh Biswas, 20, Buddhadeb Mondal, 24, Madan Das, 23, and Subrata Raftan 24.

The accident claimed seven others also — three from Assam and two each from Mizoram and Jharkhand. They were all working on a road project when the incident occurred at Maudarh village in Hnahthial district.

The spot is around 160km from state capital Aizwal and 23km from the district headquarters. Police said 12 labourers were trapped under the debris, while one — Pintu Ghosh, 24 — escaped unhurt. He is a resident of Sandeshkhali in North 24-Parganas.

The labourers were collecting stones from a quarry for the road work when loose soil began to fall around 2pm and the cave-in occurred barely within an hour.

A Calcutta-based civil engineer with experience in road constructions in hilly terrains indicated that random quarrying activities might have upset the stability of the earth at the base level resulting in the collapse of a big chunk of the quarry.

The rescue operation began late on Monday evening and by Tuesday afternoon, the bodies of five labourers from Bengal were recovered.

Hnahthial deputy commissioner R. Lalremsanga told The Telegraph that after post-mortem was over, the construction company would send the bodies to their homes.