One labourer working with the General Reserve Engineer Force (GREF) was killed and five others were injured on Monday after debris fell on them during road construction work on the Sawjian–Gulmarg road via Aangan Pathri in the Sawjian area of Mandi, in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district, officials said.

The incident occurred at around 11:50 am near the hilly Angan Pathri area while the workers were engaged on the under-construction Poonch–Gulmarg road. The labourers were engaged by GREF, which functions under the Border Roads Organisation (BRO).

GREF labourer Arif Parvez told ANI that a stone fell from above because of a machine operating at the site, hitting six people working at one spot below. “Out of the six, one person died right there, and five were injured,” he said, appealing that justice should be served to the workers.

PTI identified the deceased as Mohd Bashir, a 45-year-old resident of Danna Gagrian village. The doctor at Sub-District Hospital (SDH) Mandi confirmed six people were involved: one died on the spot and five were brought to hospital.

Three injured labourers — Farooq Ahmed, Manzoor Ahmed and Abdul Majeed — are undergoing treatment at SDH Mandi and are stable, while Mohammad Ashraf and Sherbaz Ahmed were referred to Poonch for orthopaedic consultation, the doctor said.

Sources: ANI and PTI.