Three crew members were killed and nine injured when a crane came crashing down on the sets of actor Kamal Haasan’s upcoming film Indian 2, police said.

Haasan, who himself “missed death by a whisker”, announced a total compensation of Rs 1 crore for the bereaved families as well as the survivors. He said he had moved away from the spot seconds before the accident.

An assistant director was among those killed in the accident on Wednesday night. A case has been registered against the crane operator, who is absconding, under various sections of the IPC, including causing death by negligence, police sources said.

The deceased were identified as assistant director Krishna, art assistant Chandran and production assistant Madhu, the movie’s producer, Lyca Productions, said in a statement on Thursday.

Haasan, the film’s heroine Kajal Aggarwal and others condoled the deaths.

Haasan said he and director Shankar could also have been among the dead had they not moved away a few seconds before the crane crashed.

“We just escaped death by a whisker. Four seconds before, the director and the cameraman had moved away and I was standing nearer along with the heroine,” he said.

“If I had gone nearer either way, today someone (else) would be speaking here (in front of the media) instead of me. What I am saying is accidents are like a tsunami. It does not know who is rich or who is poor,” Haasan said.