UNB, Dhaka :
Mass Rapid Transit Corporation (MRT Corp), Malaysia on Tuesday confirmed the deaths of three Bangladeshi construction workers in a span collapse near Kota Damansara on Monday night.
The three Bangladeshi workers were trapped under a 650-tonne concrete span that collapsed at the MRT worksite near the former Rubber Research Institute (RRI) in Kota Damansara, a township located in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.
After hours of hectic search operation, the bodies of the three Bangladesh nationals-Mohammad Elahi Hossain, 27, Mohamad Faruk Khan, 38, and Mohammad Alauddin Mollik, 34, were recovered.
The bodies were taken to Sungai Buloh Hospital for postmortem, according to a statement of the MRT Corp received here on Tuesday afternoon.
All the three workers were working on the huge span when the incident occurred. The 38-metre long span weighs 650 tonnes.
The body of Mohammad Elahi Hossain was recovered from under the fallen span at 2:34 am (Tuesday morning) while the bodies of two fellow-workers at 1:35pm (Malaysian time),
said the statement adding that with all the missing workers accounted for, the search operation has been called off.
MRT Corp and SMPP, the contractor of the project where the accident occurred, will make the necessary arrangements for the bodies to be repatriated here once the consent is given by the Bangladesh High Commission in Malaysia.
Officials at Bangladesh mission to Malaysia visited the spot and are contacting the relatives of the victims.
MRT Corp Chief Executive Officer Datuk Wira Azhar Abdul Hamid said he will ensure SMPP does everything that it can to assist the families of the workers.
In its previous statement, MRT Corp said it commenced investigation to determine the cause of the incident and all work where the incident occurred has been suspended until further notice.
The CEO said MRT Corp and the authorities will make sure that the cause for this incident is determined quickly.
He expressed regret and sorrow for the accident and for what had happened to the workers. “No effort will be spared in getting to the bottom of this tragic incident. We’ll also not spare anyone whose actions are found to have caused or contributed to this accident.”
Initial investigations revealed that the cause of the incident may be localised to the particular span, and other spans which have been erected are not affected.
“Immediate checks carried out have revealed that there is no reason for the public to worry about the other spans which have been built,” Azhar said in the statement.
A span of the MRT guideway had dislodged from its piers and fell at 8:30 pm Monday while construction work on the parapet for the guideway was being carried out.
