TWO construction workers were buried alive as they slept at a building site for the New Delhi metro, after a truck unwittingly dumped a mound of earth over them. "The workers were sleeping on the road divider when a dumper dumped earth on them. They died due to asphyxia," Delhi Police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said.

The accident took place late yesterday at the construction site of the capital city's metro system.

The Delhi Metro insisted it bore no responsibility and suggested the two men might have been murdered.

"Our construction was over. It seems someone killed the workers and dumped the bodies there," said Anuj Dayal, spokesman of Delhi Metro Rail Corp, which is building the transport system.

Last month, two people were killed and 12 injured when a bridge being built to extend the metro system collapsed onto a bus and cars.

The capital's metro system was launched in 2002, and has been lauded for its cleanliness and efficiency.