Metal racks crash: Tea break saves 25 lives

A tea break saved many workers of the Holisol Logistic Pvt Ltd in Seegehalli near Whitefield where giant racks stacked with craters collapsed in a heap to kill three people. Five others were also injured in the accident.

A security guard at the warehouse, Balvindar, said he had joined nearly 25 staff who were going out to have tea at 12.30 pm, and this saved their lives.

While having tea, Balvindar heard a noise from inside the warehouse and was shocked to find more than 200 racks crashing in a heap over the workers, who had to climb nearly five feet to get out of the tangle.

"I pulled out a staff from Nepal who had facial injuries. I wanted to rescue more people, but ran outside fearing further collapse of the craters," he said.

Sampath Kumar, a warehouse staff, said the metal racks were installed without support and were loaded with heavy crates. A few crates had fallen last Friday, but were shifted to another corner, Kumar said, adding that the falling craters should have alerted the supervisors, who neglected it.

Senior fire and emergency services officials said the supervisors had locked two of the four doors in the warehouse. Had they been open, the three deceased would have been alive now, they added.

Though 60 people work at the warehouse, no safety measures were in place. The company did not act on the safety of the employees.

Farooq, one of the staffers trapped in the collapsed racks, called his uncle and informed him about the accident. His uncle came with several others to help in the rescue efforts, but Farooq could not be saved.