Constable killed as piling rig collapses on him in Mumbai; traffic affected

Mumbai, Apr 29 (PTI): A police constable was killed after a heavy piling rig toppled on him at an under-construction flyover site in Mumbai, officials said on Wednesda.

Constable killed as piling rig collapses on him in Mumbai; traffic affected

Mumbai, Apr 29 (PTI): A police constable was killed after a heavy piling rig toppled on him at an under-construction flyover site in Mumbai, officials said on Wednesday.

The accident, which caused traffic snarl, occurred on the northbound carriageway of the Sion-Panvel Highway in the Mankhurd area on Tuesday night when the constable, Santosh Gopal Chavan, was heading home on his motorcycle, they said.

A piling rig used for drilling foundation piles collapsed and struck him at the site where flyover construction work was in progress, an official from Mankhurd police station said.

Chavan, who suffered severe injuries, was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead, the official said.

The constable, attached to Nehru Nagar police station, was on deputation to the east control room in Chembur.

Preliminary findings suggest that the equipment may have been positioned on unstable soil, leading to the collapse, as per officials.

Due to the accident, heavy traffic jam was witnessed in eastern suburbs, including on the Eastern Expressway, an official said.

Movement was slow at Mankhurd new bridge on the north bound due to a crane accident, Mumbai Traffic Police tweeted on their social media handle.

Authorities have initiated legal action, with the Mankhurd police in the process of registering a case against the contractor for alleged negligence.

Officials were investigating the role of contractors and site supervisors, while also reviewing whether mandatory safety protocols were followed at the construction site, the police said.

On April 15, a mobile crane toppled during Metro construction in the Bandra-Kurla Complex. No injury was reported in the incident.

Earlier, in February, one person died and three others were injured after a slab of the girder bridge of an under-construction Metro rail line collapsed on a few vehicles in Mumbai's Mulund area. PTI ZA DC GK RSY

(This story is published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. No editing has been done in the headline or the body by ABP Live.)