Gujarat: Three workers dead in collapse of structure on Bullet Train route

Three workers died as a temporary structure collapsed at a construction site on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train corridor in Gujarat’s Anand district on Tuesday evening, officials said. The incident took place at Vasad village located on the under-construction Bullet Train route, said district Superintendent of Police Gaurav Jasani. Police officials earlier said that part of an under-construction bridge collapsed. However, the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) which is executing the project later said a temporary structure of steel and concrete blocks being used for well foundation work fell down.

The site is near the Mahi river near Vadodara, an NHSRCL official said. A Vasad police station official confirmed that three workers had died and another was undergoing treatment at hospital. In all four workers were trapped under concrete blocks and two of them died on the spot, said Anand fire officer Dharmesh Gor. “One of the victims who was rescued alive was declared dead at hospital,” he said.

The fallen blocks were being removed to ensure that no other workers were trapped underneath, Gor added. As rescuers used cranes and excavators to remove the concrete blocks under which the victims were trapped, some of the locals too pitched in. On completion, the 508-km bullet train project is expected to reduce the travel time between Ahmedabad and Mumbai to around 3 hours from the current 6 to 8 hours.