One person was killed and traffic came to a standstill for several hours on the Gachibowli-Tolichowki stretch of road in Hyderabad after a huge crane weighing 150 tonnes, engaged in the construction of the Shaikpet flyover, collapsed. The incident took place in the early hours of Tuesday.
According to the police, the crane broke down and overturned while lifting a girder at around 3 am on Tuesday. The crane operator, 45-year-old Gurpreet Singh hailing from Punjab, died in the mishap. His body was taken to the Osmania General Hospital for an autopsy.
Officers on the job to normalize the traffic. Commuters are requested to cooperate with HYDTP.@AddlCPTrHyd pic.twitter.com/5cHKF3orpQ
— Hyderabad Traffic Police (@HYDTP) July 2, 2019
Traffic in the area was greatly affected due to the incident as one side of the road had to be cordoned off. Several personnel from the traffic police were deployed on the spot.
As the accident happened just before peak hours, traffic was severely affected. Several residents of the city got delayed on their way to offices located in the IT corridor as traffic piled up from Shaikpet and extended till the Tolichowki flyover on one side and close to Mehfil Restaurant on the other side.
Subsequently, Hyderabad traffic police issued a traffic advisory asking motorists to avoid the route. Presently, the police have engaged two cranes to lift the collapsed crane.
Speaking to TNM, Golconda SI Vijay said, “One person died in the incident. There are no other casualties. Traffic was immensely affected. We have engaged more police personnel to handle the traffic.”
The affected stretch which sees heavy traffic is already congested as the ongoing construction activities have left only a part of the road serviceable.
Further details are awaited.