Pune: Nine labourers killed after elevator carrying them collapses at Bhima tunnel site

At least nine labourers died after an elevator box carrying them collapsed at a construction site for an underground tunnel linking Neera and Bhima rivers in Maharashtra's Pune district on Monday evening.

According to police, an elevator box carrying workers collapsed after its cable got snapped.  The incident took place at Akole village under Bhigwan police station jurisdictions, around 100 kilometers from Pune city.

Additional Superintendent of Police (Pune Rural) Tejaswini Satpute said, “The number of deceased may go up. Search operations are going on.”

An officer of Bhigwan police station said, “According to preliminary investigations we have learnt that the elevator collapsed into the shaft. It is said that the depth is almost 100 feet. We have so far recovered nine bodies.”

He added that the bodies were pulled out by other labourers with help of villagers. “All the deceased are migrant workers,” added the police officer.

The deceased have been identified as, Sabinga Samanand Naidu, Mukesh Kumar Maurya, Surendra Bachchan Yada, Avinash Reddi,, Balram Suan, Sushant Pandhi, Chhotu Gole, Rahul Sugreev Narute and Mukesh Kumar.

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Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has announced a financial aid of Rs 2 lakh ex gratia for the close kins of the deceased. While, Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan has ordered an inquiry to find the reasons behind the incident.