9 workers from Assam killed, 1 injured in Chennai building crash
Nine Assam workers died in a Chennai construction accident when scaffolding collapsed. PM Modi announced compensation; the injured worker is stable.
Chennai: Nine workers from Assam were killed and one was injured at a construction site in a thermal power plant near Chennai on Tuesday night, making it the second tragedy in three days in Tamil Nadu.
The deaths were caused when an iron scaffolding from which they were working crashed down at site for a power plant that was under construction in the Ennore Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Tiruvallur district that adjoins Chennai. “They fell down from a height of 45 meters as per initial reporters,” said senior IAS officer J Radhakrishnan who had rushed to the site.
One injured worker is undergoing treatment at the Government Stanley Medical College Hospital in Chennai. Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) is the contractor of the project.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an ex-gratia of ₹2 lakh from PMNRF to the next of kin of each deceased and ₹50,000 for the injured. “Saddened by the mishap due to the collapse of a building in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. My thoughts are with the affected people and their families in this difficult hour. Praying for the speedy recovery of the injured,” the PM posted on X.
They were working to build a concrete arch from the iron scaffolding when it collapsed, said an officer from the Avadi police commissionerate. “Other workers rescued the 10 of them who had fallen but 9 of them died on the way to the hospital,” the officer said. “The injured person is stable.”
Chief minister M K Stalin deputed S S Sivasankar, Tamil Nadu’s electricity minister and Radhakrishnan, secretary of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board and chairman of Tamil Nadu Power Generation Corporation Limited, to carry out rescue work. Stalin said that measures would be taken to transport their bodies to Assam and announced a compensation of ₹10 lakh each to the families of the deceased workers.
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“I was deeply saddened to hear the news that nine workers from Assam lost their lives in an accident that occurred during the construction work of the power plant being carried out by BHEL in Ennore,” Stalin said in a statement.
“More than 3000 workers are working on this site,” said Radhakrishnan. “BHEL officials and our officers are here to do a recce of this site and three other adjacent sites to see if there are any other issues.”
