Eight labourers, including seven women, were buried alive when a 50-feet high mound of soil caved in on them in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday.

According to the police, the mishap occurred on the outskirts of Thakkalapalli village in Kaithlapur mandal, where 39 labourers were removing the soil from the flood flow canal under the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme.

The labourers, who were using heavy equipment, had no time to escape when a 50-feet-high mound of soil caved in. Villagers rushed to the spot to pull out the trapped labourers from under the debris. Revenue and police personnel also joined in the rescue operations.

Eight bodies were retrieved after a three-hour operation. Five injured persons were shifted to the government hospital at Korutla. The relatives of the deceased alleged that adequate safety measures had not been taken at the site.

Endowments Minister J Ratnakar Rao, District Collector Sandeep Kumar Sultania and Superintendent of Police Y Gangadhar rushed to the accident spot and consoled bereaved family members. The collector ordered an inquiry into the accident and announced an ex-gratia of Rs two lakh each to the families of the deceased.