Kolkata flyover collapse death toll rises to 27

Kolkata: The death toll in the Kolkata flyover collapse has reached 27, with two more bodies being recovered from the debris on Friday night.

“We have located two more dead with one inside a truck that was crushed as the flyover collapsed on Thursday afternoon,” O.P. Singh, Director General of National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) told reporters at the site of the disaster.

The Kolkata Police has arrested three officials of the IVRCL Limited, the company which was constructing the flyover on charges of “murder” and “criminal conspiracy”. The three — Assistant General Manager Mallikaarjun, Assistant Manager Debjyoti Manjumdar and Structure Manager Pradip Kumar Saha.

The state government also suspended a chief engineer and an executive engineer of the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority which was the nodal body and was in charge of supervising the project.

Meanwhile, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday met the injured people and families of those affected by the collapse of an under-construction flyover, here in the city.

“There has been a tragedy here. I wanted to come here and give my support to the people who are injured. I came here to visit the injured. I don’t want to make any political statement,” Gandhi said, who was in the state to campaign for the upcoming assembly polls.

However, 48-hours after the tragic incident, investigators are clueless as to the flyover collapsed with IVRCL sticking to the fact that the incident of “an act of God”.

“A super structure like this cannot fall over night. It must has shown signs of decay which must have been ignored by the concerned people,” said Tridib Das, a structural engineer.

Gulf News spoke to a labour who was working on the flyover that fateful day as he claimed that nuts and bolts were coming apart even as the concrete was poured on Wednesday night.

“We were pouring concrete on Wednesday night when few nuts and bolts actually tore apart. the pouring was halted as engineers at the sight got the bolts wielded after which the pouring started,” said Milan, a labourer at the sight.

This could be a major reason as no one should continue the process when the structure is showing wear and tear, said Das. Forensic experts have collected samples of the concrete to test the quality of the material used as many claimed that greed must have forced the company to use inferior quality building material.

“There are generally multiple reasons for which a structure of this size can collapse. we are investigating the same and will inform the people soon,” said a member of the special committee set up by the West Bengal government.