8,000-kg iron beam crushes 4 workers

Two die, two injured in accident at monorail construction site in Chembur. Body of one of the deceased was stuck in the debris for nearly five hours

8,000-kg iron beam crushes 4 workers

Two die, two injured in accident at monorail construction site in Chembur. Body of one of the deceased was stuck in the debris for nearly five hours

In an incident that raises serious questions about the safety protocol followed during MMRDA's infrastructure projects, an 80-tonne iron beam came crashing down on four workers at a monorail construction site in Chembur, killing two of them on the spot. According to eyewitnesses, the body of one of the workers was stuck under the iron beam for nearly five hours allegedly because a crane meant to lift the beam reached the spot after a two-hour delay. "The incident occurred around 6 pm at the Chembur-Wadala monorail construction site at Jijamata Nagar, where the work of launching iron beams was going on with the help of a crane.

Suddenly, one of the beams slipped out of its girder and came crashing down on four labourers who were standing below," said Milind Patil, an eyewitness.u00a0While Baldev Singh (45), Joga Singh Deol (30) and Sunil Kumar (23) were rescued from under the debris immediately, Dinesh Kumar (22) was stuck under the iron beam for nearly five hours. Singh was declared dead on arrival at the Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar and Dinesh Kumar died before he could be rescued by the fire brigade.Deol and Sunil Kumar are battling for their life at Rajawadi Hospital.

Mangled: The body of 22-year-old Dinesh Kumar was stuck under the
debris for nearly five hours. Pics/Sameer Markande

MMRDA's take
MMRDA issued a statement last evening stating that the Authority and M/s Larsen & Toubro, which is constructing the monorail, 'deeply regret the unfortunate accident that took place'. 'The project implementing and executing agencies state that all the precautionary measures are being taken into consideration and stringent security codes are followed. The accident was only unfortunate,' the statement read. MMRDA Joint Project Director Dilip Kawatkar, said, "The incident took place while working on the alignment of the guide way beams near BPCL depot. The mishap occurred because one of the supports failed. The beam fell down from the position at 2B64-65 L & Right." The development authority also announced that appropriate compensation would be given to the family members of the deceased and to the injured.

MMRDA accidents
May 2008: An auto rickshaw passenger died in Andheri (West) after a crane working on the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar metro corridor came crashing down on the autou00a0
>> December 2009: Two people were seriously injured after metal scaffolding collapsed at a metro construction site in Chakala
>> November 2010: A biker was injured after a slab of the then under-construction Lalbaug flyover fell on him at Parel
>> April 2011: Two school-going kids drowned in an open pit at the metro construction site in Andheri (East)

5 The number of lives MMRDA's infrastructure projects have claimed in the past 3 years
18 The number of stations the monorail wil halt at
19.54 Length ofu00a0 the Chembur-Wadala-Jacob Circle monorail corridor (in km)
2nd Longest such corridor in the world, built at one-fourth the cost of the world's longest
Rs 3,000u00a0 crore The estimated cost of Mumbai monorail corridor