The Hindu : Front Page : 12 feared dead as scaffolding of fly-over collapses in Hyderabad

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Monday, Sep 10, 2007
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12 feared dead as scaffolding of fly-over collapses in Hyderabad

Hyderabad City Bureau

Many vehicles crushed; scores injured in Panjagutta area

— PHOTO : P.V. Sivakumar

BOLT FROM THE BLUE: The heavy scaffolding of the Panjagutta flyover under construction collapsed on Sunday after heavy rain, crushing vehicles.

HYDERABAD: At least 12 persons were feared killed and scores injured as the scaffolding of a fly-over under construction caved in near Panjagutta cross roads on Sunday evening, even as heavy rain lashed the twin cities.

Rescue workers and police were struggling to clear the heavy scaffolding which crashed like a pack of cards, as the holiday traffic on one of the busiest thoroughfares was moving at a snail’s pace. At least seven cars and two auto-rickshaws could be seen under the collapsed scaffolding.

Authorities repeatedly appealed to the public to give way to ambulances which were being rushed from different locations. Thousands of bewildered onlookers thronged the accident site putting authorities in a piquant situation. Heavy duty cranes were being requisitioned from different parts of the city to clear the scaffolding.

Onlookers and police pulled out at least a dozen people and rushed them to nearby hospitals. Their condition is stated to be progressing.

The accident site is about 100 yards from the busy Panjagutta junction where Hydeabad Central, a multiplex is situated. With the scaffolding erected to support the construction work, the available carriage way is narrow and barely two cars can squeeze through it.

It was drizzling when some motorists stopped their vehicles underneath the structure. It was not yet known how many are trapped in the mangle of heavy duty yellow iron girders which crashed.

“There was a blast-like noise. Something like a plane crashing and the structure came down,” a dazed eye-witness, who lives in the area said. He rushed to the site and pulled out some injured persons. One Mr. Mathew who works in ICFAI ventured into the mangle of iron girders to see whether he could notice any people. “It was a deathly silence. No moans. No shrieks. Nothing to suggest there are some people trapped alive”, he said.

Going by the way the scaffolding collapsed, authorities believe that the ground could have caved in due to heavy rain, leading to the collapse.

The fly-over construction company Gammon India is making the segments in Miyapur on the city outskirts. The prefabricated segments are lifted with a crane and joined together. About 10 to 12 segments form the fly-over between two piers.

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