Video: 50-ft iron girder collapses at flyover construction site at Shivajinagar, 2 vehicles crushed
The iron girder came crashing down on a private car and a police motorcycle (Picture Courtesy: Anirudh Kamble)
Several motorists and pedestrians had a narrow escape when a 50-feet iron girder of an under-construction flyover came crashing down after being hit by a container trailer in Shivajinagar on Saturday.
The incident took place at the busy Lotus Junction of Shivajinagar on the Ghatkopar-Mankhurd Link Road, where the flyover construction work is currently underway.
The container truck, travelling towards the Chhedda Nagar side, dashed into the flyover girder which collapsed and crushed two vehicles parked right below it.
One was a private car, a white Maruti Ertiga, and the other was a traffic police motorcycle. However, no one was injured in the mishap, an official from the BMC Disaster Control unit said.
“We got a call about the accident at 4.35 pm, and it took a while to reach the site due to congested traffic situation on the Mankhurd-Ghatkopar road,” said Mumbai fire brigade officer S S Tavare.
Work was taken up to clear the road even as traffic jammed on both sides and was cleared within an hour or so.
“With the help of the onsite workers, we managed to shift the fallen girder to a safe place in order to help the traffic flow move better. It is very lucky that no one was injured in this situation,” he added.
The Deonar Police have arrested the container truck driver and booked him for rash driving, damage to public property and other charges.
Meanwhile, officials are also probing if the girder fell because of the container driver’s wrongful driving or if there was any negligence on part of the developer.
The work on the 2.1 km flyover is expected to complete next year. Once ready, it will reduce congestion in Shivajinagar, Deonar and other nearby areas.
The incident comes a week after an iron frame of the under-construction elevated road – part of Santacruz-Chembur Link Road (SCLR) extension project – collapsed on a Mercedes car on CST Road in Kurla. No one was injured in the mishap.
