An arm of a crane deployed at the project site for the new domestic terminal at the Chennai airport collapsed on Wednesday, killing a 38-year-old construction labourer Selvamani of Coimbatore.
According to Airports Authority of India (AAI) sources, around 11.45 a.m. when the crane was lifting a truss, a steel structure weighing 26 tonnes and measuring 49 metres in length, the boom, the arm of the crane, collapsed. The truss fell on the first floor of the Air India's operation building located close to the project site and the boom fell on a building inside the project site.
The AAI authorities said Selvamani was standing on top of the building at the project site and guiding the crane operator. When the boom fell, he was trapped under it. It took nearly an hour for the AAI authorities to retrieve the man from under the arm of the crane. When he was rushed to a hospital in Chromepet, he was ‘declared dead on arrival.' The body was shifted to the Tambaram Taluk Government hospital, Chromepet.
Air India authorities said after the truss fell on their operational building, those working there were evacuated immediately. However, the accident did not affect the national carrier's airline operation, they said.
S. Sivaramakrishnan, Managing Director, Consolidated Construction Consortium Limited, the company that bagged the contract of the terminal building, said the entire area where the crane was being operated had been cordoned off and not everyone was allowed inside. Only a week ago the crane was tested for safety, he said.
The company has started the investigation into how the boom collapsed, resulting in the death of a labourer, who was working with the company since the day the airport project began. The company will distribute the compensation to the family of the victim.
“Hereafter, we will doubly ensure that safety precautions are taken,” Mr Sivaramakrishnan added.
