MUMBAI: A freak accident at a construction site in Byculla claimed the lives of two workers and left three severely injured on Saturday afternoon. The accident took place when the workers, using jackhammers in a pit 15-feet deep, were buried by a wall of loose mud and stones that suddenly came crashing down on them.
The accident took place at Habib Mansion building, being redeveloped by Ibrahim Jusab Sopariwala & others, while ZZ Consultants are listed as the structural consultant, according to a board erected at the site.
The pit had been excavated for piling work being done for the building’s foundation. After the soil buried the labourers, their co-workers rushed to rescue them but it took around 30 minutes to pull them out, according to workers at the site.
By then, two labourers – Rahul, 30, and Raju, 28 – had died, while three others were rescued but had sustained serious leg injuries. The Byculla police have recorded the incident as an accidental death report.
“A few of us were in the pit, some drilling through the stone and others removing the debris, when mud and sand came crashing down and buried us,” said an injured Sajjad Ali, 25, being wheeled in for an X-Ray at Nair Hospital, alongside Lal Mohammed, 18, and Shaukat Sobat Ali, 28.
Another worker with them, who narrowly escaped, Rakimul Ali, said the incident took place at around 2:30pm. “There were five to six of us in the pit, being dug to erect the building’s pillars. When the mud fell on us, I jumped away quickly and got out of the way, but the two who were removing the debris died. The others had their lower bodies crushed.”
The AMO at Nair Hospital said, “Two patients were declared brought dead when they reached the hospital. The other three have orthopaedic injuries. While their vitals are stable, they will require surgery after the swelling subsides, for which they have been admitted.”
The injured workers said a representative of the builder had met them and promised to foot their medical bills, the labourers claimed.
Friends and housemates, they were daily-wage workers who worked at construction sites on an ad hoc basis. It was, in fact, Lal Mohammed’s first day at this particular redevelopment site, they said.
As soon as their friends heard they were in trouble, they rushed to their side. “All of us are from the same village in Bihar, and we bunk together in Gautam Nagar, MIDC, Andheri, doing similar work. Initially, we refused to believe it was true but rushed to the hospital immediately,” said Nazim Ali.
On the other hand, little was known about the two deceased workers, Rahul and Raju. Till Saturday night, there were no friends or family who had come forward to claim their bodies. Police stationed outside the hospital’s mortuary said no one had got in touch with them. The Byculla police would try and contact the families of the deceased.
www.hindustantimes.com
#dead #hurt #freak #accident #Byculla #construction #site
