After the death of 16 people in Chittagong girder collapse in 2012, a part-time worker was killed and two others were injured when a concrete girder of the under-construction Malibagh-Mouchak flyover collapsed on Malibagh level-crossing in the city in the small hours of Monday.
The deceased was identified as Mohammad Swapan, 40, a woodcarver who was working as a part-time in the flyover project. He was son of Azimuddin, hailed from Pakundia upazila in Kishoreganj district.
The two others injured are Nur Nabi, a driver, and Palash Baran Dhar, a Local Government Enginee4ring Department (LGED) engineer (Toma Group) who was supervising the work, police and fire service officials said.
Fire Service and Civil Defense Headquarters’ Control Room in-charge Belal Hossain said, “The girder fell off the flyover’s two pillars on the level-crossing when a crane was placing another girder onto them around 2:00am, leaving three people seriously injured. The fire service units rushed to the spot and pulled out them from under the huge concrete block. Then they rushed the injured to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital where on duty doctors declared Swapan dead.”
The salvage operation took around four hours to remove the girder from the rail tracks, the fire service official said.
In a query, Belal said that the salvage operation got delayed as the drivers of two cranes working to lift and place the girders fled the scene after the incident keeping the engines of their vehicles on.
One of the labourers Liton said, on-duty engineer Polash and Nurunnobi received injuries in the flyover girder collapse due to negligence of the authorities.
Railway Police Station Sub-Inspector Rashed Rana said that train communications from Kamalapur Railway Station with different parts of the county were suspended for nearly three and a half hours following the incident. The communications resumed after the firefighters removed the girder from the trail track around 6:00am.
Meanwhile, the LGED has formed a three-member inquiry committee led by Abul Kalam Azad, an Additional Engineer of the department, to look into the accident, Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) Mayor Sayeed Khokon said.
He said that he had gone to the spot on behalf of LGED Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, who could not be there due to a cabinet meeting.
With regard to allegations of using low-quality construction materials and lack of public safety, he said: “The investigation committee will look into it. No one will be spared if they are found guilty of negligence.”
The investigators have been asked to submit their findings “as soon as possible,” he said.
The Mayor said, he did not find any representative of the construction company at the site.
He said that the LGED chief engineer told him that they had taken every possible step to ensure safety.
He also termed the incident unfortunate and unwanted and assured that government would pay full compensation for the victims.
Moshiur Rahman, Officer-in-Charge of Ramna Police Station, said, “Usually, a small area is cordoned off when moving girders to avoid any chance of casualties.”
On November 25 in 2012, at least 16 people were killed and many others injured when a concrete girder of the under-construction flyover at Bahaddarhat collapsed on a kitchen market in Chittagong.
