Hyderabad Metro officials claim 'freak accident' as woman struck by falling rod fights for life

A 38-year-old woman who was grievously injured when a steel rod fell on her from an overhead metro rail construction site at Nampally remains in a critical condition at Apollo Hospital in Hyderguda.

According to reports, Uzma Hafeez, a resident of Rein Bazaar, was travelling pillion on her husband’s motorbike on Saturday morning, going from Nampally to Khairatabad, when the steel rod fell from the rail bridge and hit her on the head.

The rod hit her on the head, and Uzma began to bleed profusely. She was then rushed to the hospital, where she was reportedly admitted into intensive care, and also underwent surgery.

TOI quoted an official communication from Apollo Hospital which said that on Monday morning, Uzma still remained unconscious, though “there was some movement in her limbs”.

Following the incident on Saturday, Nampally police registered a case under Section 338 (Causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the IPC against L&T, which holds the contract for the metro rail construction.

According to the police, the details of how the rod fell from the construction site are not yet available as all the workers working at the spot disappeared before officials could reach them. The investigation team has reportedly obtained the attendance register of the worksite to verify who was present at the site.

Speaking to TOI, Hyderabad Metro Rail authorities called the accident an “impossible”, “freak accident”. “This kind of an accident cannot happen, it was impossible but it still happened,“ NVS Reddy, Managing Director of Hyderabad Metro Rail told TOI.

He claimed that the rod slipped through a 232mm hole (approximately 9 inches), made to lock in the metro rail viaduct. “While we are following all safety norms and conducting surprise checks regularly, we will have to take extra precautions now,“ Reddy was also quoted as saying.

In 2015, a similar incident occurred in Chennai, when an IT engineer was killed by an iron rod that fell from a metro rail construction near the Officer’s Training Academy at St Thomas Mount. L Giridharan, a resident of Madipakkam was travelling to work at Vadapalani when the falling iron rod hit him, causing severe head injuries and killing him on the spot.

Another motorcyclist was also hit by the rod, but escaped with minor injuries.