CMRL concrete beam collapse: It took 5 hours to retrieve man’s body crushed under girder
The deceased, C Ramesh (43), was a service engineer at a billing machine firm in the city. He lived with his wife and a ten-year-old daughter in Kaatupakkam near Poonamallee.
CHENNAI: The body of a motorist crushed under a metro rail girder that collapsed at Mount Poonamallee road in Manapakkam from a height of over 20 feet on Thursday night was recovered after an ordeal that lasted over five hours.
The deceased, C Ramesh (43), was a service engineer at a billing machine firm in the city. He lived with his wife and a ten-year-old daughter in Kaatupakkam near Poonamallee.
According to an official statement by the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), "Two I-girders that had been erected a week ago near the L&T head office main gate in Manapakkam collapsed when one of its supporting A-frames gave way, leading to the accident."
Police said the incident happened around 9.30 pm on Thursday. Ramesh was returning from work when he got caught under the concrete girder –each of them measuring 40 feet long.
It would be several hours after the accident that Ramesh's family would learn of his demise.
Ramesh's wife Rekha, a nurse at a private hospital, had called one of his colleagues to check on his whereabouts as he was not home past the usual time. The friend who traced his route from office to home noticed the crash site and learnt from authorities that a motorist had been crushed under the structure. As the debris was still being cleared, the friend learnt that the bike, which the motorist was riding, was the same make and model as Ramesh’s, police said.
Soon a bag was recovered, which he confirmed was Ramesh's, and the number plate of the bike was also confirmed to be that of Ramesh’s vehicle.
Police and rescue personnel secured Ramesh's crushed body and moved it to Chromepet government hospital for post mortem.
The Nandambakkam Police have registered a case under section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the BNS against L&T, the project in-charge, Narendra Krishna Prabhakar, project manager, Tata Rao, construction manager, Mallikarjun and erection manager, Benim.
“An inquiry committee has been constituted to investigate the accident," the CMRL stated.
