Chennai: A 37-year-old garbage truck driver working with a contractor operating garbage trucks for the Corporation of Chennai died in a freak accident after he was trapped between the tipper container and the chassis frame, in Mylapore Zone garbage transfer station, during the small hours of Thursday.
Muthuvel (37), resident of Cheyyar, Tiruvannamalai had parked the lorry he was driving inside the compound and took shelter from the rain by lying down on the lorry's chassis frame after raising the tipper. He then dozed off.
Due to a suspected mechanical fault, the hydraulics gripping the tipper container malfunctioned and it gradually came down on Muthuvel and he was crushed to death on the spot, at around 1 am.
It was raining and nobody had heard any cries for help and his co-workers noticed him dead under the lorry when they came looking for him to begin the morning routine after the rain stopped.
The Marina police were informed about the incident and the body was moved to the Government Royapettah Hospital for a post-mortem examination. The cops registered a case under section 304A (causing death due to negligence) of the IPC.
The deceased is survived by his wife and four daughters. Asked why the top brass of the Chennai Corporation could not be booked, the official reasoned that the lorry was being operated in sub-contract to the contractor to whom the civic body had outsourced the garbage collection work.
“The vehicle's operating manual clearly suggests that there should not be any hindrance to the tipper's hydraulics. Being the driver, he was aware of those operating procedures.
Therefore, the entire culpability lies on the deceased and only he will be charged,” said a senior police official privy to the investigation. “Though it is a workplace accident, the accident occurred when the driver was off duty,” the official added.
