JOIN USExcavator operator killed in building collapse
An overhead tank collapsed on the excavator which was being used as part of demolition of a building near the old bus stand, killing the driver on the spot, in Hassan on Tuesday.
The deceased has been identified as Murali (38), resident of Channarayapatna taluk. The work was in progress from last March and as part of this, the demolition of a huge building began on Monday midnight. Half of the structure was removed with care and later the remaining portion was being cleared on Tuesday, when a huge cement tank collapsed on the excavating machine at around 11 am, killing the operator on the spot.
As the building fell on the machine it became difficult to remove the dead body from the debris. Though the other workers who observed the collapsing building warned the driver to reverse the machine, it was too late and he was trapped under the structure and was killed.
Upon receiving information, police rushed to the spot and struggled to pull out the body as the hitachi machine too was totally mangled. Later, they used other excavators to remove the debris and the body.
KSRTC divisional controller P Naranaswamy said the work of demolishing the old building for the construction of a new building was given to KVK private company of Bangalore, and an agreement regarding this was signed during last March. The complete responsibility of clearing the old structure was of KVK company and there was no connection to the incident and KSRTC, he clarified. Dy SP Ravi Prakash, Circle inspector Sanjeev Gowda, SI Krishna and other police officials visited the spot and supervised the operations.
DH News Service.