RAIPUR: Two labourers were killed and six injured including two stated to be critical when a multi-floored iron casting structure collapsed at a construction site of a private company in Chhattisgarh capital.
A team of officials including Raipur collector, Municipal Commissioner, SP, additional SP and others rushed to the spot immediately.
Raipur Collector Gaurav Singh told TOI that the incident took place at VIP road where ten labourers had climbed the iron-piped structure to complete the casting and shuttering work of an apartment building’s extension on the eighth floor, on Saturday noon.
It’s a residential complex under-construction site where the incident has taken place.
Singh said that few labourers were standing at the bottom of the structure and as it came down crashing, those standing on the ground were most affected.
The incident took place around 2.30 pm and an immediate rescue operation was launched at the spot, the collector said, adding that all eight injured labourers were rushed to hospital, where one was declared dead.
The deceased was identified as Rehmat Khan.
Another worker succumbed during treatment while others were also being given treatment.
Chances of any more workers trapped under debris is bleak, but the process of removing debris is going on, collector Singh said.
Raipur SP Lal Umed Singh, who was on the spot, said that the SDRF team of SDRF had been pressed on the job and the debris was being removed and further details will be shared later.
There were two more labourers on the spot, who narrowly escaped from injuries as they were stationed on the top of the structure and they got hold of the building when others had fallen.
District fire officer Pushpraj Singh, “We are removing the debris to ensure that no life is trapped under it. Though the witnesses at the spot said that all workers were rescued, we want to be sure of it. Using excavators and gas cutters, we will remove the fallen structure.”
According to initial investigation, there are over 400-500 labourers working and residing on the under-construction site of three building blocks. Except a couple of them, all the workers are from other states and are living in poor condition on the construction site itself, under risk to life.
Police officials said that a case will soon be registered against those responsible for negligence. Sources said that the iron pipes used for making the structure was old and rusting, which weakened its grip and collapsed.
Officials on the site suspect that it was major negligence on part of the site engineer responsible for ensuring safety norms. They said that the preliminary investigation indicates that the base of the structure had problems with its alignment and it was standing tilted.
The horrified eye-witnesses said that they were on the other side of the site when they heard a loud growling noise like an earthquake and they rushed towards the sound, to find the iron structure collapsing and trapping those standing on and under it.
Besides, it’s being investigated if the concrete slabs on the eighth floor had first fallen, that might have caused the structure crumpling down or was it the base.
