Four labourers were killed when an embankment collapsed on them near the bank of the Goma river in Gujarat’s Vadodara district late on Thursday, PTI reported. They were allegedly loading illegally mined sand when the embankment gave way, a police official said.

The incident took place in the district’s Savli tehsil. The four labourers – identified as Ravindrakumar Vankar, Kalpesh Gohil, Nagin Vanzara and Bhailu Vanzara – were taken to hospitals in Kalol and Savli, where doctors declared them dead.

The police have filed a case of accidental death and conducted an autopsy. An investigation is under way. “A case of accidental death has been registered and the bodies handed over to their families following post-mortem,” sub-inspector Kiritsinh Vahatsinh told PTI on Friday.

A village sarpanch named Jayesh Bakrola claimed that he had complained about illegal excavation being carried out at the farm last week, but no action was taken.