Crane plunges onto Kurla slum, lucky escape for 10

The crane was to lift a machine onto the top storey of an adjacent building for demolition but rain had probably made the soil unstable; MMRDA says accident to be probed

MUMBAI: Ten people had a lucky escape, sustaining minor injuries, when the boom of a 250-tonne hydraulic crane toppled and crashed onto their homes at Qureshi Nagar in Kurla before dawn on Friday. Residents said they were woken at 2.40am by what sounded like an explosion as the crane tilted and then plunged, smashing slum tenements, a compound wall and two-wheelers. Its boom, around 80 feet long, also brought down high-tension railway overhead wires, which helped break its fall and limit the damage.

For Nazim Shaikh, 43, a biscuit and khari vendor, the accident couldn’t have been more ill-timed. It came barely two days before his daughter’s wedding. The Sheikh family had just finished celebrating the haldi ceremony and had turned in for the night when the accident occurred. (Raju Shinde/HT Photo)

The Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Authority (MMRDA) said the crane had been positioned to hoist a Poclain machine onto the top storey of the 16-storey Building No 1 of Bhandari Metallurgy it was demolishing. An official said it probably toppled as the soil underneath it had been loosened after the previous evening’s rainfall. The building had been built to house project-affected persons (PAPs) under slum and other government schemes. Now dilapidated, the structure was being demolished by MMRDA.

The government agency said an investigation would be initiated into the incident. Heavy duty work is usually not carried out during the monsoon. The sequence of events would be probed and whether ground conditions had been assessed before the crane was positioned at the site, the official added. MMRDA has not announced any financial compensation for the families impacted by the accident.

Central Railway officials said the crane had brought down overhead cables along its Kurla-Trombay rail line but this did not impact the movement of suburban trains as this railway line is used for freight traffic and oil tankers.

It took nine hours for a crew armed with blow torches and gas cutters to slice through the fallen boom, to clear it away. The ten injured residents were treated at two civic hospitals.

For Nazim Shaikh, 43, a biscuit and khari vendor, the accident couldn’t have been more ill-timed. It came barely two days before his daughter’s wedding. The Sheikh family had just finished celebrating the haldi ceremony and had turned in for the night when the accident occurred.

“I had stepped out when I saw, to my horror, the boom crash down on my home. I thought I had almost lost my entire family and my blood ran cold. But, soon, voices came out of the rubble and neighbours began pulling my family members out,” recalls Sheikh, whose modest home was still draped in overhead wires late onFriday evening.

Sheikh says he cannot afford to postpone the wedding, although it will be low-key. “Chicken biryani ke jagah mein dal chawal hoga, par shadi toh hoga,” he says.

A senior citizen couple, Nasreen Bhanu, 57 and Mushtaq Ahmed, 63, were injured in the crash. Both received stitches at a local hospital before being admitted to Kurla’s Bhabha Hospital for further treatment. Both husband and wife were on the upper deck of their tenement when the crane crashed onto it.

“How can government contractors undertake demolition of a 16-storey building at that unearthly hour? Is that even allowed,” asks their daughter, Heena Ahmed, an advocate. “Even after the crane collapsed, they cut it so badly that parts of it fell onto our home, causing further damage. We are now demanding compensation from MMRDA,” she said.

Her father sustained injuries to his head and eyes, while her mother injured her head and torso. They continue to be the only ones of the ten injured persons in hospital.

Nazim Sheikh’s sister-in-law, Hakum Sheikh, 36, and nephew Ahmed Niyaz Ahmed, 13, were treated at Sion Hospital. By Friday evening, Sheikh had managed to drape blue tarpaulin sheets across the broken portions of his home, to keep the rain out.

His neighbour Raju Gaur, 35, was less fortunate. The entire front portion of Gaur’s rented tenement had fallen apart. Hours later, he was still unable to recover his household items for fear that an entire wall would collapse.

Both he and his wife Aarti, 30 took a few stitches to their heads, while their 13-year-old son escaped with scratches. On Friday evening, he was staring at the wreckage of his home, while a carrom board, mosquito bat and other items lay exposed to the elements. He is relieved his younger children, Ayush, 9, and Pari, 3, escaped with minor scratches.

Dean of Sion Hospital Dr Pramod Ingale, where eight of the 10 injured persons were rushed, told HT: “Most of them had minor injuries and were discharged after treatment. The only person asked to stay back was Jugrulla Nabi Mohammed Khan, 63, who received head injuries. We are awaiting his CT-scan reports,” said Ingale