Eastern freeway slab falls, 1 killed

Mumbai: One person died on the spot and five others were injured, two of them critically, after the segment launching truss (made of steel) fell on the segments between the two pillars of the under-construction eastern freeway at Shanti Nagar in Wadala.      The mishap occurred at around 9.40pm on Thursday when the labourers were launching the segment. The MMRDA had not identified the deceased at the time of going to press. Though darkness hampered the fire brigade and police operations, MMRDA officials said the area would be cleared by Friday morning. Similar mishap occurred last Oct  Mumbai: Dr Sandhya Kamat, dean of Sion Hospital said of the five people who were admitted, one had his pelvis broken and has been kept under observation in ICU. "Similarly, two others have fractured their lower leg and jaw bone. The other two injured are also in the hospital though not injured critically," she told TOI, pointing out that the one was brought dead to the hospital by the rescue squad.      The critically injured have been identified as Raju and Abhijit. Three others, Dashrath Deva, Mangal Mandal and Virendra (all aged between 20 to 35), although not discharged, are not seriously injured, doctors said.      According to some sources they were passing below the under-construction bridge and only one or two could be labourers working on the eastern freeway project.      On October 24, 2011 a similar mishap had occurred when the girder, which was being launched with the help of two cranes, fell on labourers near Mysore Colony area near Chembur. Fortunately no one was injured in the mishap. This incident had occurred on the next section of the eastern freeway (i.e Anik-Panjrapol Link Road (APLR)) elevated corridor.      The project involves construction of an elevated road between Princess Dock on P D'Mello road and Anik bus depot in Wadala. From Wadala it is being connected to Panjrapol near R K Studios in Chembur via a tunnel through the BARC area. The Rs 600 crore project is being funded by the central government under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The next portion of this project between Panjrapol and Ghatkopar-Mankhurd link road is yet to take shape. The total length of the project is around 22 km.      The agency involved in the construction of the mishap-hit part of freeway is Simplex Infrastructure while CES is the consultant for the project. MMRDA is the nodal agency which is financing the project. The collapsed truss DROP ZONE: Of those injured in the eastern freeway slab collapse in Wadala on Thursday night, some are suspected to be labourers working on the project