Kendrapada: A 45-year-old truck driver was buried alive under a heap of coal while it was being unloaded at a steel plant in Kalinganagar, Jajpur district, on Sunday. The deceased was identified as Sorun Mohanty, a resident of Kamakhyanagar in Dhenkanal district.According to eyewitnesses, the hydraulic lift of the truck was activated without noticing that Mohanty was standing behind the vehicle. Fellow labourers quickly used an earthmover to dig him out and rushed him to a nearby hospital in Kalinganagar. However, doctors declared him dead on arrival. "He died due to suffocation," said Raju Pradhani, a worker at the plant.The incident has triggered outrage among workers, who alleged that the deceased was not provided with basic safety equipment like a hard hat, boots, or other protective gear when he entered the premises to unload coal.

They also demanded compensation for the deceased's family.Police reached the site shortly after the incident. "The body has been sent for postmortem to the district headquarters hospital in Jajpur. The truck involved has been seized," said Kalinganagar IIC Prakash Chandra Sahoo, adding that a probe has been launched.