In the nearby village of Farwahi, a house that was being raised using hydraulic jacks collapsed early this morning, trapping four laborers beneath the debris. Three of the laborers perished in the accident, while efforts to extricate the fourth laborer from the rubble are currently underway. The sound of the collapsing house reverberated across a wide area; subsequently, a large crowd of locals gathered at the scene and arranged for announcements regarding the incident to be made at the local Gurdwara Sahib and Dera Baba Thamman Singh to summon immediate assistance. Administrative officials were also promptly notified of the incident.
According to reports, the house—owned by Vishal, son of the late Jivan Kumar, a resident of Farwahi village—had been undergoing a process of being raised using hydraulic jacks for several days. At approximately 4:15 AM today, the concrete roof (or ‘lenter’) of the structure suddenly gave way, burying four laborers who were inside the house beneath the rubble. Upon learning of the incident, villagers gathered in large numbers; simultaneously, a police team—including Kulwant Singh, the Duty Officer at the Sadar Police Station—rushed to the site immediately after receiving the alert.
With the assistance of the locals, rescue operations to extract the trapped laborers from the debris were initiated. One of the laborers, still trapped beneath the rubble, could be heard calling out for help while in an injured state. After a strenuous effort, three of the laborers were successfully pulled out and transported via separate ambulances to the Civil Hospital in Barnala. Although they were unconscious upon arrival, they were subsequently pronounced dead by the hospital authorities. Meanwhile, locals continued the work of clearing the debris in an ongoing effort to rescue the fourth laborer.
