Three men, aged 30, 37, and 60, died after a landslide buried them on the evening of July 11 in Orong, Samdrujongkhar.

The three men were working at the Philuma farm road construction site. The incident occurred around 4:20pm.

Local leaders said that they carried out the blasting around 2pm that day and an excavator cleared the debris.

Officials said that while workers were carrying out the drilling works for another blasting, a machine operator saw the falling boulders, who yelled to alert the workers. “But it appears they didn’t hear the operator’s voice because of the drilling machine and the river. They were then buried by the slide,” an official said.

Officials also said the landslide was suspected to have occurred because the blasting works had loosened the soil and the rocks. “Since this is a high seepage area with cracked rocks, the vibration of the drilling machine could have also caused the slide,” the official said.

Of the three bodies, one was recovered on July 11 while two were recovered around 1pm yesterday. Police, desuups and the locals helped in retrieving the bodies.

The bodies were handed over to the deceased’s families. One of the deceased was from Trashigang and the other two from Gomdar in Samdrupjongkhar.

Samdrupjongkhar dzongkhag kidu officer handed over the Royal semso to the deceased’s families yesterday.

Meanwhile, police said they are investigating the case.

Kelzang Wangchuk | Samdrupjongkhar