Hyderabad: Two men working on the Hyderabad Metro Rail project were killed and one other person was injured when a concrete mixer truck fell into a large pit dug for the Metro Rail work at Nalgonda crossroads in Malakpet in the early hours of Thursday.
The truck, which was going to Kukatpally from Guntur district, rammed into the barricades at the site at 3.15 am, and fell into the pit. The workers, who were inside the pit, were crushed under the lorry, while the truck driver escaped with injuries. Chaderghat police said that the driver, V. Kurumaiah, 35, fell asleep while driving.
Six other workers escaped as they had gone to fetch water and drink tea when the accident occurred. “Usually, there are 10 workers at the site. Six of them had gone out while two people were inside the pit and two were on the top when the truck fell,” said a police official from Chaderghat police station.
The victims were identified as Mumtaz Ansari, 20, and Babulal Yadav, 18, both natives of Jharkhand. Their trapped dead bodies were taken out after the truck was removed from the 10-feet deep pit, a task that took four hours. The driver, who was stuck inside the truck, was pulled out by the locals and police, and was rushed to the hospital. Two other workers at the site escaped without injuries, police said.
“The truck, which was carrying concrete powder, first hit the barricades, turned turtle, and then fell into the pit. The driver told us that he remembered seeing the Nalgonda crossroad flyover in front and then everything went blank,” said inspector L. Raja Venkat Reddy.
HMRL officials said that the site was guarded by barricades and other precautionary measures were also in place.
“Since the truck was going fast and because it was heavy, it could break through the barricades, though all the necessary precautions were in place at the site,” said N.V.S. Reddy, managing director of HMR, adding that the construction giant L&T would provide compensation to the family of the deceased
The Chaderghat police has booked a case against the driver under IPC Section 304 A for causing death due to negligence.
