Date:10/11/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/11/10/stories/2007111061611500.htm

International - India & World

Indian workers killed in bridge collapse

Atul Aneja

— Photo: AFP

Tragedy: People gather at the site where part of a bridge under construction collapsed in Dubai on Thursday. .

DUBAI: Seven Indian workers were killed and 24 injured when a bridge under construction collapsed in Dubai Marina on the outskirts of the city on Thursday evening.

Indian consulate officials said five of the killed were from Tamil Nadu, one was from Bihar and the other from Uttar Pradesh.

The dead were identified as: Shahjehan Shamsuddin, R. Mohan Lakshmanan, A. Govindam, Mathai Laghan, K. Thangan (all Tamil Nadu), Surendra Singh (Bihar) and P. Jagdish (Uttar Pradesh).

Moieen Fikri, Head of Emergency at the Department of Health and Medical Services, said 20 workers were hospitalised.

“Eight workers suffered moderate injuries and 12 minor ones.

“We will monitor two or three workers for 24 hours and the rest will be discharged,” Mr. Fikri said.

According to eyewitnesses, around 40 workers were placing the steel fabrication when the bridge collapsed.

Dubai police Chief Dhahi Khalfan Tamim said an ‘error’ by a crane driver as well as poor site-supervision could have caused the accident. “My tentative assumption is that the bridge collapsed because a crane driver had tried to lift a 1.5 tonne load of steel onto the bridge. The load, however, hit against the bridge columns causing it to collapse. The fault is two-fold: the driver’s miscalculation of the height of the steel columns, and lack of site supervision.”

Lt. Gen. Khalfan said the Dubai Police Headquarters was notified of the accident at 6:21 p.m. on Thursday.

Seven vehicles and two helicopter ambulances rushed to the scene.