A 10-year-old boy in Rajarhat on the eastern fringes of Kolkata died in a hospital on Sunday after meeting a freak accident on Saturday when he was flung 30 feet in the air after a cable holding down a coconut tree, which was being chopped, snapped.
Rohan Ali Mondal, a Class V student, was watching a group of labourers chopping a large coconut tree in the neighbour’s courtyard when the rope, the labourers had held on to lower the tree, somehow slipped and got entangled with the boy’s leg as he rocketed off the ground and fell 30 metres away, severely injuring his head. He was under treatment at the SSKM Hospital before he succumbed to his injuries on Sunday.
The incident happened at Majherpara neighbourhood in New Town’s Hatiara on Saturday afternoon. Witnesses said Mondal’s mother was calling him for lunch while the boy stood outside his home watching the tree-felling session.
“The coconut tree was tied with a lamp post and held on to by some labourers thereafter. But the labourers lost their grip on the rope and it somehow got stuck with the boy’s leg. The boy was off the ground in a moment and fell at a distance just like a sling,” said Monirul Islam, a local resident.
Mondal’s parents Rahman and Nasima were too traumatised to speak but his uncle Moidul levelled allegations of negligence against the neighbours.
A senior officer of Eco Park police station said a written complaint has been lodged by the boy’s family on Sunday against the neighbour and the contractor deployed for the task. They have detained three persons for questioning.
The ward 13 coordinator of Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation, Md Mohsin Ahmed, said: “No permission was taken for felling trees in the area. I will personally look into the issue and will ask police to take necessary action against the perpetrators.”