Elevated road collapse in Andheri claims 3 lives, 6 crictical

The number of fatalities in Thursday night’s mishap at the site of the under-construction Sahar Elevated Road in suburban Mumbai rose to three in the wee hours of Thursday. All three who died as well as all six admitted to various hospitals with multiple injuries are construction labourers at the site.

Sahar Police on Friday arrested three supervisors of L&T, which is contracted by Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) to build the high-speed Sahar Elevated Road. The names of the three arrested supervisors are Pechi Muttu Subramaniam (27), Subaya Velu Shravanal (34) and Lakhbir Nirmal Singh (34).  

Representatives of L&T said one of the precast concrete segments being installed had slipped, resulting in “dislocation of a span”. According to the statement, “The police, ambulance and fire services immediately rushed to the site and started rescue operations… All necessary help is being provided to the affected and their families.” It added that investigations are already underway to determine the cause of the incident.

The incident occurred a little past 11 pm along the stretch of the elevated road project that is located close to the Hyatt Regency near the international terminal of the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport.

The Sahar Elevated Road is an ambitious project jointly undertaken by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority and the GVK-led Mumbai International Airport Ltd, aiming to establish high-speed connectivity from the Western Express Highway directly to the international terminal. The 3.5-km road is being constructed at a cost of approximately Rs287 crore.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) said it had nothing to do with the portion where the accident occurred, since the 1.5-km stretch from Hyatt Regency to International Airport Terminal-2 is being undertaken by MIAL.  “The MMRDA has no role to play as far as the construction of this stretch is concerned,” said Dilip Kawathkar of the MMRDA.

The three labourers who lost their lives were identified as Santosh Das (22), Jainam Mandal (26) and Rambali Das (35), all brought dead to the BMC-run Cooper Hospital. "The post mortem concluded that they died due to multiple fractures," said a source from the hospital.

Of the six injured, three workers are critical and on ventilator. Three patients are admitted to SevenHills Hospital, two to Holy Spirit Hospital and one to Medicare Hospital at Andheri.

The deceased and the injured workers hail from Uttar Pradesh, Bengal and Bihar.