Around 40 persons travelling in an MTC bus and a person in a car had a miraculous escape on Sunday afternoon as both the vehicles plunged into a crater on Anna Salai where a portion of the road caved in due to underground Metrorail work. However, no one was injured in the incident.
Around 2 p.m., the MTC bus (25G) from Anna Square halted at the bus stop in front of Church Park Convent. Within seconds, the bus and a black sedan that went past the bus, slipped into the crater as the road suddenly caved in.
While the bus driver, conductor and many passengers managed to get out of the vehicle, passers-by rescued the car driver and some other passengers on the bus.
About 18 metres below, the Chennai Metro Rail Limited’s two tunnel boring machines (TBM) were working on a tunnel to connect the proposed underground stations coming up at Thousand Lights and AG-DMS.
“We were carrying out a process called cutter-head intervention as part of tunnelling work. As the soil strata was loose, the road caved in,” a CMRL official said.
Soon after the accident, police cordoned off the area and a crane was brought to lift the vehicles. Fire and Rescue Services personnel to pull the car and the bus using cranes at 4.30 p.m.
Cracks could be seen on either side of the road and on pavements. As hundreds of people thronged the area the cracks began to widen. Officials said the cracks had developed on the pavements in the impact of the accident. “When the road caves in, some parts on either side may develop cracks. We will carry out restoration work immediately,” CMRL officials said.
Traffic diverted
As one side of the road was closed, traffic was diverted via Royapettah clock tower, Lloyds Road, and Cathedral Road to DMS and beyond.
Meanwhile, CMRL officials said they had a strict instrumentation and monitoring process at work when tunnelling work was going on. The monitoring points are along the alignment every 10 metres and readings are taken every six hours. “A reading was taken just before the incident but no damage to the road was found,” an official said.
