Chandni chowk flyover: Couple injured by falling construction material
Poor man may be crippled for life, pregnant wife at risk.
RAWALPINDI:
A couple riding a motorcycle were seriously injured on Tuesday when construction material from the under-construction flyover at Chandni Chowk fell on them.
Workers were removing heavy iron rings to fill concrete in the pillars for the flyover with a crane when one of the rings fell on the bike.
The ring left Sohail Masih, 25, with a fractured spine and his 22-year-old pregnant wife, Mariam, bleeding with leg injuries, according to witnesses and rescue workers.
Doctors who attended to the couple at Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) feared Masih, a sweeper at BBH, could be paralysed due to the nature of the injury.
“Although Mariam only suffered leg injuries, the excessive bleeding is dangerous for a woman in her ninth month of pregnancy,” the doctors said.
Masih was later shifted to District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ) for a CT scan. His wife was admitted to the BBH gynaecology unit.
“I was taking my wife to BBH for a medical check up. When we were near the Rescue 1122 office, a heavy iron ring fell on us. My wife fainted...the ring destroyed my motorbike... Rescue 1122 volunteers came and took us to hospital,” Masih told The Express Tribune.
He said traffic was flowing normally when they were passing under the under-construction flyover.
A traffic warden present near the scene of the accident said the construction team had never informed them about any activity carrying such potential hazards during rush hours.
Had they been intimated about the danger posed by removing shuttering with cranes, the traffic police could have closed the road temporarily, he added.
Chief Traffic Office (CTO) Ghulam Abbas Tarar said his department was only responsible for maintaining the smooth flow of traffic at Chandni Chowk.
When asked if there was any coordination with the project’s contractor, National Logistic Cell (NLC), about potential hazards, the CTO said the contractor had covered the worksite with metal sheets and they thought the area outside the fence was safe for traffic flow.
Punjab Highways Executive Engineer Rana Basharat denied the absence of precautionary measures that caused the incident.
He said it was an unfortunate accident and he had “discussed financial compensation for the victims with the contractor”.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2012.
A couple riding a motorcycle were seriously injured on Tuesday when construction material from the under-construction flyover at Chandni Chowk fell on them.
Workers were removing heavy iron rings to fill concrete in the pillars for the flyover with a crane when one of the rings fell on the bike.
The ring left Sohail Masih, 25, with a fractured spine and his 22-year-old pregnant wife, Mariam, bleeding with leg injuries, according to witnesses and rescue workers.
Doctors who attended to the couple at Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) feared Masih, a sweeper at BBH, could be paralysed due to the nature of the injury.
“Although Mariam only suffered leg injuries, the excessive bleeding is dangerous for a woman in her ninth month of pregnancy,” the doctors said.
Masih was later shifted to District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ) for a CT scan. His wife was admitted to the BBH gynaecology unit.
“I was taking my wife to BBH for a medical check up. When we were near the Rescue 1122 office, a heavy iron ring fell on us. My wife fainted...the ring destroyed my motorbike... Rescue 1122 volunteers came and took us to hospital,” Masih told The Express Tribune.
He said traffic was flowing normally when they were passing under the under-construction flyover.
A traffic warden present near the scene of the accident said the construction team had never informed them about any activity carrying such potential hazards during rush hours.
Had they been intimated about the danger posed by removing shuttering with cranes, the traffic police could have closed the road temporarily, he added.
Chief Traffic Office (CTO) Ghulam Abbas Tarar said his department was only responsible for maintaining the smooth flow of traffic at Chandni Chowk.
When asked if there was any coordination with the project’s contractor, National Logistic Cell (NLC), about potential hazards, the CTO said the contractor had covered the worksite with metal sheets and they thought the area outside the fence was safe for traffic flow.
Punjab Highways Executive Engineer Rana Basharat denied the absence of precautionary measures that caused the incident.
He said it was an unfortunate accident and he had “discussed financial compensation for the victims with the contractor”.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2012.