Public safety: Truck driver dies under collapsed bridge
A truck driver from Sargodha was killed inside his vehicle by a pedestrian bridge in an accident on the Ring Road in North Cantonment on Thursday.
Officials said that Rana Sajjad, 25, a resident of Chak 43, Sargodha, was driving with the ‘bucket’ of his truck up and it struck the overhead bridge on the Ring Road near the Harbanspura grid station. The bridge collapsed on the truck and crushed the vehicle.
Hundreds of bystanders gathered at the scene and sought to pull out the driver, but heavy machinery was needed to remove the debris. Rescue 1122 later called cranes to remove the collapsed section of the concrete bridge.
Rescue officials said that the driver had been crushed under the weight. They said an autopsy was being conducted.
Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif arrived at the scene and ordered an inquiry. District Coordination Officer Noorul Amin Mengal and Commissioner Jawad Raffique Malik also visited the accident site.
Officials of the National Engineering Service of Pakistan (NESPAK) who had visited the scene of the accident said that the driver had likely raised the truck bucket to clean it, which was a common but illegal practice by truckers. They said that oil from the hydraulic pump that raises the bucket in the truck was leaked all over the road, indicating that the bucket was up.
They said that the raised bucket struck the beam, which rested on the pillar via a projection that fit inside a recess in the column. The impact of the bucket on the beam broke the wall of the recess and the beam came crashing down on the truck. They said that there was no other attachment between the beam and column.
Ring Road Authority Deputy Director Najam Waheed told The Express Tribune that there were 20 overhead pedestrian bridges on the Northern Loop of the Ring Road of which at least 16 were concrete constructions of the same design as the bridge that collapsed.
Col (retired) Asim, the director for enforcement as well as operations and maintenance in the Lahore Ring Road Authority, said that the Chief Minister’s Inspection Team had been tasked with conducting an inquiry. He said that veteran civil engineers would be involved in the inquiry. He said that only physical impact could have brought the bridge down.
He said that under agreements with the Ring Road Authority, the construction companies that had built pedestrian bridges were to maintain the bridges for a year or two before the authority took responsibility.
He said the bridge that collapsed had been built in June 2009, while the railing had been installed in September that year, by Khalid Rauf and Company.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 29th, 2012.
COMMENTS (15)
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@Iram: Should they charge the CM if a truck driver hits a bridge with his illegally used bucket? You want to charge the CM because a truck driver broke a pedestrian bridge that is not meant to withstand such a force? Maybe we should charge the CM if you decide to drive into a cow crossing the street too? This is the problem in Pakistan. We are so quick to judge without looking at the facts!
@Kaleem: i dislike hypocrisy that's why i always criticize PMLN. CM claims that there is no corruption in the Punjab but didn't allow audit to AG. i have a question for you. Did the Punjab government clear the bill of contractor without final inspection of the project? If they cleared the bill without inspection, it is a fault or if they didn't inspect it is double fault.
i disagree with your all personal charges, its not true.
This is big example of corruption and mismanagement by CM. Who is all in all in Punjab.
@Vishnu Dutta: driver didn't hit to column. he hit to beam of the bridge causing it displacing from columns. beams of such bridge are not design for heavy lateral loads. yes traffic collision load is considered in column design because in normal operations traffic may hit to columns not the beams.
a concrete bridge should be strong enough to withstand a fast moving empty truck. get the architects and builders of the bridge. its drivers fault too but he is dead.
In north america if you hit a bridge column with a fully loaded truck , it will barely scratch it.
@Iram, I dislike your comment, instead of analyzing news, your task is to spread anti PMLN agenda all over internet. I personally know my friends being paid by political parties and using female names who are here just to promote their political party.
but if this is common mistake among truck drivers, the bridge should have been designed considering that.
Can someone please look at the bridge and tell me that that isn't shoddy construction? The beams are literally just placed on the columns without any joints or connections to each other. Regardless of the bucket being up or not a CONCRETE pedestrian bridge should not have been that easy to take down.
its fault of driver not the contractor or designer.. no pedestrian bridge is designed in whole world to bear truck collision loads.. over loading and illegal modifications in vehicles should be punishable..
@Iram: 100% Agreed
F.I.R should be launched against Mr. C.M.
@stenson: the driver is responsible but in Pakistan commonly such bridges are built at a height by which all vehicles can safely pass through. Not even the contractor, the person who designed and approved the design should be asked a few questions.
North America has the highest crime rate in the world in addition to making crappy movies and awarding them oscars.
In North America if a truck driver had driven with the bucket open and struck a bridge, he would be held responsible for causing damage to the bridge. Instead in Pakistan, people blame the bridge contractor!