Two workers were killed after a mound of earth collapsed on them while they were working on a road in Nisikhola Rural Municipality of Baglung district on Monday morning, police said.

Three workers were buried while excavating a road in Bohoragaun in ward 3 of the rural municipality. One was rescued alive, while two others died, police said.

The dead were identified as 28-year-old Lal Bahadur Budhathoki, from Salyan district, and 32-year-old Raju Thapa, from Udayapur. Both had been working on the road project, according to Ramesh Bikram Shahi, the ward chairman.

Krishna Gharti, a worker from Rolpa who was seriously injured, was taken to Burtibang for treatment, police said.

The workers were building a road from Bohoragaun through Kapra Chhapakhani to Pyuthan when the earth collapsed on Monday morning.

The incident comes days after five people, including four members of the same family, were killed when a landslide struck Kanabagar in Bohoragaun.

Last week’s torrential rains also triggered flooding that buried dozens of houses in Jhiwakhola.

Police have taken Bhadra Malla, the driver of the excavator being used for the road work, into custody for investigation.