2 killed, as crane falls on them

Two persons were killed when a crane fell on its side while trying to pull out a lorry that hit a median at Pappanaickenpalayam Road, Puliakulam, here on Friday.

The deceased have been identified as S. Paramasivam (32), a painter, and M. Chinnapparajan (66), a watchman. Paramasivam died instantaneously, and Chinnapparajan at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital at around 1 p.m.

Both of them were standing in front of a shop near Damu Nagar watching the crane trying to remove the lorry from the median.

The lorry carrying about 30 tonnes of sand hit the median after it developed a flat tyre at around 6 a.m., said its driver Pandimurugan.

The police deployed a crane from near SITRA to pull away the lorry.

When the crane tried to pull away the lorry, the latter moved forward crossing the median, as the vehicle was in neutral gear. The arm of the crane that was hooked to the lorry, got pulled and it in turn pulled down the vehicle, said eyewitnesses.

The police deployed two more cranes. After transferring the sand to another lorry, the two cranes moved aside the lorry, and pulled up the crane too. Power supply in the area was affected for nearly four hours, as Tangedco switched off a local transformer. The police cleared the road for vehicle movement around noon.