At least seven workers were killed and five others were injured after a massive boulder collapsed on some vehicles, including a tractor trolley, which was loading crushed stones, at a stone quarry in Madapattana village on the outskirts of Bengaluru on July 2, 2026.
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Seven workers, including six migrants, were killed, and five were injured after a massive boulder collapsed on them at a stone quarry in Hulukenahalli village in Tavarekere Hobli on the outskirts of Bengaluru on Thursday (July 2) morning.
Several workers were engaged in stone-cutting and quarrying activities when a huge mass became detached from the rock face in an adjacent quarry and came crashing down on them from a height of about 40 feet. The boulder collapsed on some vehicles, including a tractor trolley which was loading crushed stones, and left several workers trapped. The accident occurred at around 7:30 a.m.
Seven labourers — five from Madhya Pradesh, and one each from Karnataka and Chhattisgarh — were killed on the spot. Five others who were injured were rushed to the Rajarajeshwari Medical College and Hospital for treatment as Tavarekere police and fire and emergency services carried out rescue operations.
Gopi, a quarry worker from Tamil Nadu who escaped in the nick of time, claimed that several people employed at the Basaveshwara quarry were working at the top of the boulder trying to pry out the rock mass, which then broke free and rolled down on to the workers at the neighbouring S.R. Udayashankar quarry. “If only they had informed us beforehand, many victims could have been saved,” he told mediapersons. Police are still investigating the cause of the accident.
Culpable homicide charges
The Tavarekere police registered a case against five people, including the quarry owners and supervisors, for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The accused have been identified as D. Anandaswamy, Udayashankar, Pandu, Tirupathi, and others responsible for quarry operations at the Basaveshwara and S.R. Udayashankar stone quarries. According to the FIR, the quarries, which lie adjacent to each other, had been operating in Survey No. 29 for nearly five years.
The FIR alleges that the accused knowingly allowed quarrying work to continue in an unsafe environment without taking adequate precautionary measures, resulting in the deaths and injuries. Police said the quarry management had allegedly continued operations despite being aware of the risk of a rockfall and failed to implement mandatory safety measures to protect workers.
No evidence of blasting
Based on the complaint, the police detained four people for questioning, including two quarry managers, a driver, and a site in-charge.
During the preliminary investigation, police found no evidence of any blasting at the time of the accident. Investigators suspect the collapse was caused by the instability of a massive rock, which slid from 40 feet above, though the exact cause of the slide is yet to be established.
The investigation is continuing, and police have sought a detailed report from the Department of Mines and Geology to determine whether the quarry operators had complied with statutory safety norms and mining regulations.
Two JCBS at the quarry where at least seven workers were killed and five others were injured after a massive boulder collapsed on a tractor, which was loading crushed stones, in Madapattana village on the outskirts of Bengaluru on July 2, 2026.
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Special Arrangement
Published – July 02, 2026 11:15 am IST
