News / India

21 killed, 92 injured in flyover collapse in India’s Kolkata

Thursday, 31 March 2016 12:16 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 31 March 2016 6:12 PM ]

Locals and rescue workers clear the rubble of a partially collapsed overpass in Kolkata, India, March 31, 2016. ©AP

A flyover under construction in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata has collapsed, leaving at least 21 people dead with scores of people trapped beneath the wreckage of the overpass.

"We had earlier given the death count as 18. Now police have seen three more bodies, which they will extricate," Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said while on a visit to the Kolkata Medical College and Hospital on Thursday.

India’s National Disaster Management Authority spokesman Anurag Gupta said that the "rescue operation is still on as many people are trapped under the debris.”

The incident occurred on Thursday after the flyover, a 100-meter-high structure of metal and cement, crashed down on moving traffic below in a busy commercial district near Kolkata’s Girish Park.

Anil Shekhawat, a spokesman for the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), said the number of injured stood at 92.

Army troops have been deployed to the site to clear the rubble and help rescue those trapped in cars, trucks and other vehicles, which lay under massive concrete blocks and metal debris.

A 140-tonne crane was brought to the scene, but it was not able to lift the concrete slab.

In this still image taken from a video, rescue workers attempt to rescue a person trapped in a car after a flyover collapsed in Kolkata, India, March 31, 2016. ©Reuters

"Monumental tragedy. Rescue ops on. Many feared dead," Derek O'Brien, spokesman for the left-wing party that governs the state of West Bengal with Kolkata as its capital, said in a tweet.

The Indian company, IVRCL Ltd was supposed to complete the construction of the 2-kilometer (1.2-mile) Vivekananda Road overpass three years ago, but it has missed several deadlines to finish the project.

According to reports, Banerjee had called for the project to be completed by February.

Akhilesh Chaturvedi, a senior police officer, said that 15 people, who were critically injured, had been rescued.

"Most were bleeding profusely. The problem is that nobody is able to drive an ambulance to the spot," Chaturvedi added.

India's Home Minister Rajnath Singh also announced that rescue teams would be rushed to the scene of the deadly incident.

Building collapses are common in India, where builders use substandard materials and poorly enforce regulations.

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