Five labourers were killed and three injured when the road-construction machine they were working on in Meghalaya's North Garo Hills (NGH) district came in contact with an overhead high-tension wire today, police said.
According to police, the incident occurred at Miapara village when the workers were rolling the machinery along the road and it hit the high-tension wire (11KV) overhead.
"The labourers supposedly did not see the overhanging wire and were killed on the spot when the machine contacted the high-tension wire," said DSP of NGH, Nikcheng Momin.
Four of the workers killed in the incident were from Merarchor village in Assam's Bongaigaon district while the fifth one was from Miapara village, police said.
The injured have been rushed to Goalpara hospital, they said.
An investigation into the incident, the DSP added.