In a horrific tragedy exemplifying India's Silicon Valley's untended civic issues, a 28-year-old woman and her two-and-a-half-year-old child died after the staging column of a metro pillar collapsed along the Outer Ring Road in East Bengaluru on Tuesday.
A bunch of vertical TMT bars were erected in a circular column to build pillar number 218 for Namma Metro's 38.44-km KR Puram-Airport line under Phase 2B. It was this circular column weighing several tonnes that fell about 40 feet along the busy road in HBR Layout at 10:45 am.
The column struck a family of four riding on a scooter: Tejasvini, a software engineer, her civil engineer husband Lohit Kumar, son Vihan and his twin sister. Tejasvini and Vihan suffered grievous injuries and were rushed by passers-by to Altius Multispeciality Hospitals, across the road.
Doctors who treated Tejasvini and Vihan said they suffered severe head injuries while Vihan was injured in the chest, too. Tejasvini and Vihan died shortly afterwards while the father and the twin sibling are out of danger, police said. "They were brought to the hospital in a very serious condition. We tried our best to save them but they didn't respond to treatment," said Dr Mahesh, an emergency specialist at the hospital.
The family is from Horamavu, East Bengaluru. Police have sent the bodies to Dr Ambedkar Hospital for a post-mortem.
Eyewitnesses said it was sheer luck that the column didn't fall on other vehicles.
Traffic was disrupted on the busy road that connects eastern suburbs with northern localities and the airport.
Traffic police and metro authorities diverted traffic to the service road. Kala Krishnaswamy, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic, East), said the road had been cleared for traffic.
A metro official said the contractor building the metro line - NCC Ltd - would bear the medical expenses of the family. The company is likely to announce compensation for the next of kin.
"We are going to take the case based on the complaint of Lohit. We will see what is written in the complaint and will take necessary action during the investigation," Bheemashankar S Guled, deputy commissioner of police (East) told DH.