Maharashtra crane crash toll reaches 20, 3 more critical

Thane: The toll in the crane crash disaster in Maharashtra’s Thane shot up to 20 with three more victims succumbing, and another 3 still critical in a hospital, officials said on Tuesday.

The girder launcher crane, weighing around 700 tonnes crashed from around 100-feet height on over two dozen workers toiling to construct a bridge on the third and final phase of the Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway, around 1 a.m. on Tuesday.

The accident took place between Sargaon and Sarambegaon in Shahapur region in Thane, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s home district.

Shinde, who was away in Pune to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s events, returned late on Tuesday night and visited the accident site. Among the victims are 2 engineers, five staffersm and 13 construction workers working at the construction site.

Soon after the incident was reported by the Maharashtra Disaster Management Authority and local bodies, teams of NDRF SDRF, Fire Brigade, civic workers and Thane police rushed to launch a massive rescue operation. By afternoon they had retrieved many of the crushed and mangled bodies of the victims, some beyond recognition, even as local MLA Daulat Daroda supervised the rescue efforts.

President Droupadi Murmu, PM Modi, and other mourned the loss of lives while Shinde ordered a high-level probe into the accident. Modi announced a compensation of Rs 2-Lakhs to the kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 for the injured. Shinde announced an aid of Rs 5 lakh to the kin of the dead and full free treatment of the injured.

Modi had inaugurated the Phase I of the 701-km-long expressway in December 2022, while Shinde threw open the second phase in May, while the third phase (101-km) between Nashik-Mumbai is being constructed.