At least 20 people, including 10 labourers, were crushed to death and three were injured as a girder launcher collapsed during the construction of a viaduct for the Samruddhi Expressway in Maharashtra’s Thane district on early Tuesday morning, officials said.
The girder launcher along with a segment launcher (crane), weighing 700 tonnes, came crashing down from a height of 35 metres, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) said in a release.
The deceased included two engineers, said the MSRDC, the executing agency of the expressway project that links Nagpur with Mumbai.
The three injured persons are being treated at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital at Kalva in Thane.
A total of 28 persons were working at the site when the girder launcher crashed. Five of them remained unhurt.
An FIR was registered against two contractors of the company engaged in the bridge construction work at Shahapur police station.
They have been booked under sections 304 A (causing death by negligence), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), and 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Indian Penal Code, an official said.
The incident occurred sometime after midnight at Sarlambe village in Shahapur tehsil, around 80km from Mumbai.
The MSRDC said the incident was being analysed with the help of technical experts.
It was a special-purpose mobile gantry crane used in bridge construction and to install precast box girders in highway construction projects, it said.
The launcher collapsed while being shifted between piers 15 and 16 of the viaduct, as part of preparatory work for the next day, the MSRDC release added.
The 2.28km viaduct is being constructed using advanced technology by Navayuga Engineering and VSL India Private Limited, Singapore.
Of the total 114 segments of the viaduct, 98 were successfully constructed using this launcher, the MSRDC added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has condoled the loss of lives in the collapse incident and announced an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh for the next of kin of each of the deceased and assistance of Rs 50,000 for the injured persons.
Union home minister Amit Shah also expressed grief and said teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are engaged in relief and rescue work.
Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday announced an aid of Rs 5 lakh for the families of each of the deceased.
Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis expressed grief and tweeted that a probe had been ordered.
The Samruddhi Mahamarg, named Hindu Hrudaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg, is a 701km long expressway connecting Mumbai and Nagpur.
It traverses 10 districts — Nagpur, Washim, Wardha, Ahmednagar, Buldhana, Aurangabad, Amravati, Jalna, Nashik and Thane.
