25-yr-old labourer crushed to death as Mumbai Metro girder falls off trailer

Police have booked the driver of the trailer for negligence. He fled after the incident and police is on the lookout for him.

A 25-year-old labourer died in the early hours of Friday after a girder, being transported for construction of the Metro-2A rail, slipped off a trailer and fell on him on the western express highway at Kandivli.

The victim and two others were seated in a support vehicle right behind the trailer. He got crushed when a rock jointing pin broke, which caused the U-girder to detach from the puller. (HT File Photo used for representational purpose only)

The Samta Nagar police have booked the driver of the trailer for negligence. “The accused has fled and we are on the lookout for him,” said senior police inspector Raju Kasbe of Samta Nagar police station.

The victim, Arman Shaikh, was employed by civil contractor J Kumar.

Dilip Kawathkar, spokesperson, MMRDA, said, “It is an unfortunate incident. We condole the death of the contractor’s employee and hope all contractors will take utmost care in future.” HT tried to reach out to J Kumar, but received no response.

According to the police, the incident took place at 2am, when the U-girder, weighing several tonnes, was being transported towards Borivli. The victim and two others were seated in a support vehicle right behind the trailer. Shaikh and the two assistants were in charge of signalling passing vehicles to not come towards the trailer.

An FIR has been registered under section 304 A (death due to negligence) of the Indian Penal Code against the driver of the trailer as he failed to check all the vitals before driving the heavy vehicle. The police are probing further to see if anyone else is responsible.