A team of firemen arrived four minutes after receiving report of the incident, only to find two of the three workers half-deep in earth and the other almost entirely buried.
In order not to further endanger the workers, the rescuers had to use their bare hands to dig through mounds of earth and pull the victims to safety.
Despite heavy rain, all three men had been rescued and sent to hospital by 17:10 local time.
A witness said that the ditch collapsed while the workers were digging and that all the men should have discontinued work once it began to rain heavily, Reuters reported.
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