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20 killed as crane on Maharashtra expressway falls
At least 20 people were killed and three others were injured after a girder launcher collapsed on the under-construction Samruddhi Expressway in Thane
At least 20 people were killed and three others injured after a girder launcher collapsed on the under-construction Samruddhi Expressway in Thane district of Maharashtra on Tuesday morning, officials said.
The incident occurred at Sarlambe village in Shahapur tehsil, sometime after midnight, officials said, adding the injured people were admitted to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital at Kalva in Thane.
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The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) in a statement said that the girder launcher as well as a crane, weighing 700 tonnes, came crashing down from a height of 35 metres. MSRDC is the executing agency of the 700-km Nagpur-Mumbai road project.
The deceased included at least 10 labourers, two engineers and some staffers of the Singapore-headquartered private company, who were at the site during the construction of a viaduct for the expressway, officials said.
Most of the deceased labourers were from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, officials said, adding their identity was being ascertained.
The 2.28-km-long viaduct is being constructed by Navayuga Engineering and VSL India Private Limited, Singapore.
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A first information report (FIR) under sections 304A (causing death by negligence) and 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered at Shahapur police station against two contractors of the company engaged in the bridge construction work, a police officer in Thane said.
MSRDC in its release further said that it was a special-purpose “mobile gantry crane” used in bridge construction and to install precast box girders in highway construction projects that collapsed while being shifted between pier numbers 15 and 16 of the viaduct as part of preparatory work for the next day.
“Of total 114 segments of the viaduct, 98 were successfully constructed using the same launcher,” MSRDC added.
While the construction of a 600-km stretch is completed and opened for traffic, the work of remaining 101-km stretch between Nashik and Thane is in progress.
Meanwhile, President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis expressed grief over the incident.
“I am deeply saddened by the news of the death of many people in the accident in Thane district of Maharashtra. My deepest condolences to the bereaved families…,” Murmu tweeted in Hindi.
Condoling the loss of lives, the prime minister announced ex gratia of ₹2 lakh for the next of kin of each of the deceased and ₹50,000 for the injured people. CM Shinde also announced assistance of ₹5 lakh each for the families of the deceased.
“The accident that occurred in Thane, Maharashtra, is very sad. NDRF [National Disaster Response Force] teams are engaged in relief and rescue work along with the local administration,” home minister Amit Shah tweeted in Hindi, while expressing grief over the loss of lives.
The Maharashtra government has ordered a probe by experts, Fadnavis said in a tweet. Maharashtra cabinet ministers Dada Bhuse and Ravindra Chavan also visited the mishap site.
After protests by the family members of the deceased at the hospital, VSL officials said the company would bear all expenses and gave a written assurance regarding the same.
(With agency inputs)
