Hyderabad(Agencies):Eleven
people were killed when a massive crane on a rail track collapsed during a
trial run at the Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL) in Sindia area of
Visakhapatnam on Saturday afternoon.
Four employees of HSL were
among those who died on the sport. Other
casualties included labourers, according to DCP Suresh Babu. The incident took
place between 11.30 am and 12 noon when the workers were trying to ascertain
the capacity of the crane and make it operational.
The crane was being deployed
as part of the upgrading process of the shipyard involving the electrical wing
employees and the local Green Field Company that was assisting in the project.
Many of the contract labourers killed were employed by this company. RK Meena,
Visakhapatnam’s police commissioner has rushed to the spot and is supervising
rescue operations.
Local sources said that many
injured have been rushed to hospitals, but so far only six bodies have been
recovered. According to local police, about 20 workers were said to be working
on the location when the crane crashed. Some workers managed to run for safety,
some others received injuries and at least 11 workers were crushed under the
weight of the crane.
Hindustan Shipyard Limited
(HSL) is a central government undertaking. It bought the crane some years ago
but never used it. Its commissioning was recently outsourced to a private
agency that was trying to make the machinery operational after some repairs and
overhauling.
District Collector V Vinay
Chand said: “The 70-tonne capacity jetty crane was procured and commissioned
two years ago and its full-fledged trials were initiated this morning. During
the trials, officials were testing the dead-weight capacity of the crane when
its cabin portion on the top and its base portion separated and the crane
collapsed”.
This is the third major mishap
in the port city since May this year, when a gas leak in LG Polymers had led to
12 deaths.
Four persons are said to be
regular employees, while the remaining six are contract staff.
District authorities rushed to
the spot and took stock of the situation.
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