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Worker killed, two injured as soil collapses while laying pipelines
Ghaziabad: One worker was killed and two others injured after a huge mound of soil caved in and fell on four workers near Columbia Asia Hospital adjacent to NH-9.
Ghaziabad: One worker was killed and two others injured after a huge mound of soil caved in and fell on four workers near Columbia Asia Hospital adjacent to NH-9. The police said the workers were under the contractor engaged for laying of Ganga water pipeline as part of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway (DME) project.
According to police, the deceased worker was identified as Anshu, 22, while the two injured were identified as Pankaj Kumar and Amit, both aged about 25 years. The two were rushed to the hospital and are undergoing treatment.
“One person died of suffocation. The other two are now recovering from minor injuries. One of the injured has also suffered a fracture. However, both are stable at present,” an official from Columbia Asia Hospital said.
According to police, the incident took place Monday afternoon when the workers were busy laying the Ganga water pipeline.
“The work was taken up under the Delhi-Meerut Expressway project. Four workers got buried under the huge mound of soil. One of the four was recused but the others remained buried. Later, they were rescued with the help of teams from the National Disaster Response Force and rushed to the hospital, where one died during treatment. We have not received any police complaint so far,” Atish Kumar Singh, circle officer (city 2), said.
The officials of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) said they will soon initiate an inquiry into the incident.
“The workers were brought to the site by the contractor. All precautions were in place but some workers removed the shuttering from the cemented portion and this caused the soil mound to collapse. An inquiry will be initiated and all necessary financial support and compensation will be given to the victim’s family,” Mudit Garg, deputy general manager (NHAI), said.
The pipeline project involves laying of new pipelines and the shifting of existing lines from the right of way of the 14 laned DME. The pipelines carry Ganga water from Upper Ganga Canal to the water treatment plants in Pratap Vihar. After treatment, the Ganga water is supplied to Ghaziabad and Noida.
