An overhead gate installed across a flank of Red Road on the occasion of a road race, Kolkata Police Safe Drive Save Life Half Marathon, crashed during the event on Sunday morning, injuring additional police commissioner Murlidhar Sharma and at least another person.
Among the injured was a woman who was clicking pictures of her husband, who had enrolled for the race.
Officials at the hospital where Sharma and the woman were taken said the injuries were “not very serious” in nature.
“The elderly woman was bleeding from the head. But the CT scan report was normal. So she was treated and discharged from the Emergency,” said an official of the Institute of Neurosciences.
“The police officer has suffered lower back injuries. But there is no fracture. The legs are moving. That suggests no spinal cord injury. He has suffered local, severe soft tissue injuries. He was in pain and so we admitted him. His condition is stable,” the official said.
“Both of them are fine,” Kolkata police commissioner Vineet Goyal said after calling on Sharma and the injured woman at the hospital. Asked how such an accident could happen, he said: “We are looking into it.”
Like the woman, Sharma, too, was not participating in the race. They were in the finishing flank, adjoining the one where the participants had started the road race, an officer said.
The police said 25,000 men and women, from varied age groups, participated in Sunday’s road race. Among them were many police personnel.
The gate collapsed around 8.30am, minutes after the 5km race had started.
Many who saw the gate collapse said there was no wind or any other apparent reason that could have triggered the fall.
“It was a structure made of steel rods wrapped in flexes. The base appeared to be too light to withstand the load of the structure, which spanned across one flank of Red Road,” said a police officer who was on the spot.
A woman said she saw the overhead gate suddenly tilt forward and before anyone could react, it crashed.
“The gate fell within a few seconds. There was hardly any time to react. It narrowly missed the head of a senior police officer. Later, I saw a woman was injured on her head,” said a homemaker, who accompanied her son who joined the race.
Footage has emerged showing the collapse and how it crashed on additional commissioner of police Sharma.
Even as the gate collapsed, the participants were asked to continue with their run and proceed towards their destination.
Seconds after the collapse, two placards attached to screens installed along the median divider of the road to live telecast the run crashed, too.
“Thousands of men and women ran through the city as part of the Kolkata Police Safe Drive Save Life Half Marathon,” said a police officer who was a member of the committee that organised the event. The categories were 21km, 10km and 5km.
Trinamul Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee was a participant in the 10km category.
“I took part in a road race after 14 years. I am glad that I could complete 10km without any interruption,” said R. Adhikary, one of the participants.
A senior police officer said this year there was record participation. Registration for the run had to be closed after enrolments reached 25,000.