Bengaluru: Metro pillar collapses; woman, 2.5-yr-old child killed

A woman and her 2.5-year-old son were killed after an under-construction metro pillar collapsed on them in Bengaluru on Tuesday morning.

An under-construction Metro pillar collapsed in Bengaluru's Nagavara on Tuesday morning, killing a mother and her two-and-a-half year old son. The father also sustained injuries in the incident.

The pillar was part of the Namma Metro's operations to the city's Kempegowda International Airport.

The family were traveling on the road on their bike when they came under the pillar. The identities of the deceased are yet to be ascertained. The injured were being treated at a hospital. However, the woman and her child succumbed to their grave injuries shortly after, while the man is still being treated.

“Today morning at around 10:45am, a metro pillar collapsed and hit a bike, on which four people were travelling. Father Lohith and mother Tejaswini and twins (one son and daughter). Tejaswini and Vihan (son) were seriously injured and immediately shifted to Altius hospital. Unfortunately Tejaswini and Vihan died,” Bheemashankar S Guled, DCP East, said.

The iron bars of the pillar had been fixed and were yet to be concretised.

The pillar was part of the Namma Metro's operations to the city's Kempegowda International Airport, which is set to be opened to the public by the end of the year.

Further details are awaited.

This comes in the midst of severe allegations of corruption against the ruling BJP government in the southern state. The Basavaraj Bommai-led government is accused of allegedly hiring contractors who use low-quality raw materials to cut costs. There have been several other instances of crumbling infrastructure in the city, with newly opened roads and flyovers developing cracks and falling apart within days.