At least 17 people died and a few were left injured after a girder launching machine collapsed near Shahpur in Thane, Maharashtra. According to Shahpur police, the machine was being used in the construction of Phase III of the Samruddhi Express Highway. An official said that the accident took place in the early hours on Tuesday near Sarlambe village in Shahpur tehsil, reported PTI. Those who died are all the workers who were engaged in the construction of the third phase of the Samruddhi Expressway, police said, as per PTI.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde expressed pain over the incident. Taking to Twitter, he announced an ex gratia of Rs 5 lakhs for each of the kin of the deceased and issued instructions for proper treatment of those injured at the state government's expense.
"The unfortunate accident of crane collapse at midnight on Samrudhi Highway at Shahapur Sarlambe is very unfortunate and saddening. So far 17 people have died in this accident. An aid of Rs 5 lakh each has been announced to the families of the deceased workers and instructions have been given to provide proper treatment to the injured immediately at government expense," the tweet in Marathi, loosely translated into English, read.
The CM further said, "Today, I am in Pune for the Prime Minister's program and as soon as I heard the news of the accident, I spoke to the district administration and concerned officials and took information about the accident. This accident is very unfortunate and instructions have been given to conduct a thorough investigation."
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also expressed sorrow over the tragic incident and announced an ex gratia of Rs 2 Lakh for the kin of the deceased and Rs 50,00 for those injured.
"Pained by the tragic mishap in Shahapur, Maharashtra. My deepest condolences to the families of those who lost their lives. Our thoughts and prayers are with those who are injured. NDRF and local administration are working at the site of the mishap and all possible measures are being taken to ensure proper assistance to those affected. An ex-gratia of Rs. 2 lakh from PMNRF will be given to the next of kin of each deceased. The injured would be given Rs. 50,000: PM," the Prime Minister's Office tweeted.
An official told the agency that the machine is a special-purpose mobile gantry crane that is used in bridge construction. It is used to put precast box girders in highway and high-speed rail bridge construction projects. Police and fire brigade personnel reached the spot to rescue the workers. The official said that the toll is likely to increase.
NDRF Assistant Commandant Sarang Kurve said "We got information about the incident at around 1:30 am and our first team started the rescue operation around 5:30 am. Our search and rescue operation is still underway. Sniffer dogs have also been used for rescue"
As per PTI, the Samruddhi Mahamarg, named Hindu Hrudaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg, is a 701-km-long expressway connecting Mumbai and Nagpur. It goes through ten districts including Nagpur, Washim, Wardha, Ahmednagar, Buldhana, Aurangabad, Amravati, Jalna, Nashik, and Thane.