At least 17 workers were crushed to death in western India on Tuesday when a crane collapsed above an under-construction expressway outside the financial capital Mumbai, disaster response officials said.
The crane toppled onto large concrete slabs during the night, with debris then smashing down as labourers worked on the Samruddhi Expressway in Maharashtra state, India’s National Disaster Response Force (NRDF) said.
The NRDF said 17 bodies had been recovered, and three injured people had been taken to hospital.
An NRDF video clip showed rescuers working through piles of mangled steel girders at the construction site in Thane, in the suburbs of Mumbai.
The Samruddhi Expressway, connecting Mumbai with the city of Nagpur, is part of an expansive road infrastructure push in one of the world’s fastest growing economies.—INP
