Two labourers were killed and two others were rescued after soil collapsed during the construction of a farm well at Kasthambadi village near Arani town in Tiruvannamalai.

Police said the deceased persons were identified as B. Selvamani, 36, and V. Ravindran, 50. They are residents of Karungalikuppam village near the town. Initial inquiry revealed that Selvamani and Ravindran were hired by R. Thanchi, 62, a retired Army man, with other workers Dakshanamurthy, 40, and E. Babu, 35, to dig a 40 feet deep well to irrigate his 20 acre farmland.

The four workers were working to remove a huge load of soil from the pit. As they were removing loads of mud, a portion of the mud collapsed on them. Police said the region had witnessed regular rain, and as a result, the soil loosened.

Other workers and farmers managed to pull out Babu and Dhakshamurthy safely but Selvamani and Ravidran got trapped in the mud. The deceased were digging the floor of the under-construction farm well.

Based on an alert, firefighters and the Kalambur police rushed to the spot, and retrieved the bodies of the deceased workers from the well. The injured persons were admitted to the Government Medical College Hospital in Vellore. A case was registered, and further probe is under way.