Bengaluru auto driver crushed to death after metro girder falls from trailer on airport road

The spot, where the metro construction was going lies along the road to the Bengaluru airport, turned into a scene of chaos shortly after the incident.

In a tragic accident near Kogilu Cross along the busy Bengaluru-Ballari Road, an autorickshaw driver lost his life after a metro girder fell off a trailer around 12.10 am on Tuesday. The spot, where the metro construction was going lies along the road to the Kempegowda International Airport, turned into a scene of chaos shortly after the incident.

Bengaluru auto driver died after a metro girder crashed on him during late night on Tuesday.

According to a report in The Times of India,- the victim is identified as 35-year-old Khasim, a resident of Hegde Nagar, was behind the wheel when the massive metal girder collapsed onto his vehicle. Eyewitnesses told the publication that the trailer transporting the girder was being driven recklessly and that the girder was not properly secured. The driver of the trailer abandoned the vehicle and fled the scene soon after the mishap.

According to preliminary findings by the Yelahanka traffic police, the trailer—bearing registration number KA-01-AM-1910—was negotiating a U-turn near the service road when the accident took place. The vehicle was transporting the girder to a metro construction site from Bagalur Cross.

Khasim had just dropped off a passenger, who was standing outside the autorickshaw, making an online payment when the girder fell. In a twist of fate, the passenger escaped unhurt while Khasim was crushed in the driver’s seat.

Similar accident in 2023

This accident has once again brought attention to safety lapses in metro-related construction logistics. Notably, it echoes a similar incident from January 2023, when a woman and her 2.5-year-old son died after a steel pillar from an under-construction metro line collapsed on them while they were riding a two-wheeler. Her husband and younger child miraculously survived that incident.

As of now, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), under whose jurisdiction the girder transportation was being conducted, has not issued an official statement regarding Tuesday’s fatal accident.