A woman has died and three other people have been injured in a rockfall at an illegal quarry in the Sylhet District of Sylhet Division in Bangladesh, on Monday 13 November 2017. The incident happened at about 9.30 am local time, as the workers were digging out rocks from a bank of Piyain River. The deceased woman has been identified as Shompa Das, 17, from Netrokona, while the injured persons were Jyoti Bikash, Dipto Sarkar and Ajit Sarkar. This incident brings the number of known deaths in such quarries in Bangladesh to 29 so far this year and eight so far this month.
The approximate location of the 13 November 2017 Sylhet Landslide. Google Maps.
Illegal quarrying for stone used in the building industry is a major
problem in Sylhet, with hills and river beds the usual targets. The
situation has caused major environmental issues in the region, with a
number of hills having disappeared completely. The illegal nature of the
quarries adds to the dangerous nature of the work; the quarries not
only lack any form of health and safety management, they are often also
active in the hours of darkness without lighting in order to avoid
detection.
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