BMC sanitation worker crushed to death by loader during Juhu beach clean-up

The compact track loader from which the woman fell on Friday morning. Pics/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

A woman employed by the solid waste management department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) was crushed to death under a compact track loader, an earth-moving vehicle, at Juhu beach on Friday morning.

Information received by this paper suggests that the woman was an elderly woman named Angama Devendra, who was a resident of Vile Parle's Nehru Nagar.

The spot where the mishap occurred on Juhu beach

According to eyewitnesses, the incident occurred when workers were getting off duty after cleaning a stretch of the beach, sometime between 10.30 am and 11 am. They said that Devendra fell from a loader before being run over by another such machine.

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mid-day contacted the BMC K West ward for a comment on the accident, but didn't receive a response by press time.

‘We were terrified'

A co-worker said, "We were sitting at the rear end of the vehicle, and there was another such machine behind us. There was a small gap in the sand, which was not visible. Our vehicle jerked as it went over it, causing Devendra to fall. As everything happened suddenly, those operating the vehicle behind us couldn't hit the brakes on time. This was horrifying. We were all terrified."

‘We couldn't believe it'

Another worker said, "We couldn't believe what had happened. We had gone to park to grab a bite when we heard of the tragedy and rushed back. Police officers from a chowkie had already reached the spot, and they followed the accident-related protocol."

Devendra's body was taken to Cooper hospital, where she was declared dead, and post-mortem is to be carried out.

10.30 am and 11 am
Time window when incident occurred on Friday