Hyderabad: Three commuters had the scare of their lives on Saturday when the road they were travelling on suddenly caved in, creating an eight-foot crater into which they fell. The ongoing pipeline laying work is responsible for what could have been a great disaster.
M. Anjaneyulu, 25, was dropping off his sister-in-law, M Laxmi, a 35-year-old lecturer in a private college, at the bus stop on the main Safiguda road in front of NTR statue, near Safilguda Lake at 7.30 in the morning. Sixty-year-old Yesuda-nam, a resident of Anandbagh, was about to park his vehicle before setting off on his usual morning walk at the lake when the road caved in, literally swallowing all three commuters. Mr Anjaneyulu and Ms Laxmi escaped with scratches, but Mr Yesudanam suffered bruises, especially to his face.
An eyewitness, Suresh Kumar said, “I saw the elderly man going head down into the pit. As the road was caving in, tension gripped us and everyone left their vehicles and started running into the lanes.
Big escape for school kids at Safilguda
Three commuters had the scare of their lives on Saturday when the road they were travelling on suddenly caved in, creating an eight-foot crater into which they fell. An eyewitness, Suresh Kumar said, “There was a school bus, autorickshaws carrying children... if the crater had been bigger, many would have fallen in since it was school time and there was heavy traffic.” He said it took half an hour to pull out the three victims and their vehicles.
A senior officer of HMWS&SB’s project department explained the reason for the road caving in: “The area where the crater was formed is called a T-junction. A 1,600 diameter HDP pipeline is being installed at this site by the Indian Hume Pipe Co. Ltd. But since there is a T-alignment, a pipe made of cast iron is laid. The work is being carried out at night and the site is filled up so that traffic is allowed in the morning.”
“On Saturday, water started leaking from a 150-mm pipeline, which filled up the trench leading to its caving in. The pit was immediately filled up,” he said.
