Karnataka - Bangalore   

Two persons die as lift collapses

Rajanna R. and Somashekar T.

BANGALORE: Two employees working in a chicken processing unit were killed after a lift in the unit snapped here on Sunday. The incident occurred when the open industrial lift meant for moving goods at the chicken division of the Chikmagalur-based firm, Life Line Feeding India Ltd., located in Peenya Industrial Estate 1st Stage, gave in even as R. Rajanna (28) and T. Somashekar (30) were unloading chicken.

Sources said Rajanna and Somashekar, natives of Hiriyur taluk in Tumkur district, worked as helpers in the unit and were unloading chicken on the ground floor, which would be then sent for packing. It is learnt that chicken had been sent from the cold storage located on the first floor in the open industrial lift. The unit distributes packed chicken under the brand “Tender Chicken” to different parts of the State.

While Rajanna’s younger brother Pandurangappa said that he was told by the firm that the two came under the overloaded lift after it snapped from the first floor, the firm has informed the police that the accident occurred when the victims were unloading chicken by keeping one of their feet in the lift and the top portion of the lift hit the two employees. “It is not clear as to how my uncle died. His colleagues are not revealing anything,” said Somashekar’s niece, Tulsi.

Pandurangappa, who is an agriculture labourer, said that the family members were yet to know about the accident. “My sister-in-law does not know about the death. She is waiting at the gates of M.S. Ramaiah Hospital along with her two-year-old son. I have not told my parents too… there is not enough money for them to come here,” he added. “This tragedy could have been averted if my brother had agreed to come on a pilgrimage along with us on Saturday,” he said.

Somashekar, another victim, leaves behind his wife and a five-year-old boy. “My aunty (Somashekar’s wife), who is staying in Kuvempu Nagar, is yet to hear the news,” Ms. Tulsi said. The relatives of Rajanna and Somashekar were waiting at the M.S. Ramaiah mortuary to receive the bodies.

The Peenya police have registered a case of negligence against the firm. Kannada Sene staged a protest near the firm seeking compensation for the victims’ families.

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