LAHORE: Three labourers died while five others were injured, two of them critically, after the wall of a seminary collapsed at Kot Lakhpat here on Wednesday.

The incident occurred when labourers were busy in digging work for a basement without following safety measures.

Witnesses told police that the administration had hired labourers for an under-construction portion of the seminary at Gujjar Colony. Luckily, they said, the students were in the other portion of the building at the time when the wall collapsed.

The work for digging basement started early on Wednesday, they said. As they continued work, the wall collapsed a few hours later perhaps due to massive digging work. Eight of the labourers got trapped under the rubble.

Model Town Division SP Mian Ijaz said three labourers died on the spot due to profound head and chest injuries while five others were shifted to hospital with multiple injuries.

A spokesperson for the Rescue 1122 said the teams dispatched for the purpose were kept in the dark about the death of the labourers in the wall-collapse incident. He said as the rescuers reached the site they were informed that only five labourers were injured in the incident.

Later, it transpired that the bodies of three persons were there, he said, adding that it was an unusual thing and police were trying to investigate as to why the seminary administration kept the Rescue 1122 in the dark.

Those who died were identified as Karim Bakhsh, 51, Irshad, 50, and Nadeem, 23, the spokesperson said.

The Model Town SP said police were awaiting complaint from the families of the labourers to lodge a criminal case. Action would be taken once application was received, he said.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2020