At least 17 workers have died, and five others remain trapped following a tragic accident in the city of Thane, in India's state of Maharashtra. The disaster occurred when a girder machine collapsed on them in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
The victims had been working on phase-three of the expressway, just when the machine fell on them. It was a special-purpose mobile gantry crane used in bridge construction.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi conveyed his condolences to the bereaved families.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with those who are injured. NDRF and local administration are working at the site of the mishap, and all possible measures are being taken to ensure proper assistance to those affected... An ex-gratia of INR 200,000 ($2,430) from PMNRF will be given to the next of kin of each deceased. The injured would be given INR 50,000 ($607),” the Prime Minister tweeted.
Over 1,000 Accidents on Samruddhi Expressway Since Its Commissioning
Cutting across 10 districts, the 701-km long Highway connecting Mumbai and Nagpur was inaugurated in December 2022. More than 100 individuals have died due to accidents on the 600-km portion of the expressway.
On July 1, as many as 25 people lost their lives after a bus caught fire late at night.
A survey by the Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT) Nagpur has revealed four major reasons behind the accidents – mainly due to ‘human error’ – including tyre bursts, changing lanes, 'highway hypnosis' and animal crossings.
The study, which combined the accidents between December 2022 to March 2023, also stated the rate of accidents on the Samruddhi Mahamarg averages eight per day.
However, at present, the highway is not fully open to the public. Fears are that the number of accidents may rise once the Samruddhi Expressway goes completely operational.
After the survey, Prof. Vishrut Landge from VNIT told the media that the highway's speed limit is too high, about 120 km/hr. Hence, a driver's reaction time is extremely low, less than a second (about 0.7 seconds). Upon hitting the brakes, the tyres get heated up, the air expands, and conesquently, they burst. There should be a tyre bath at every 100 km. Moreover, when someone is driving along a long stretch of highway, that person goes into highway hypnosis, and his mind gets stuck or tired, rendering him unconscious while behind the wheel.