Working at a construction site comes with its set of risks, from injury to severe accidents. There are a lot of possibilities of things going wrong. This is exactly what happened in Kannauj this afternoon. Tragedy struck at the Kannauj railway station on Saturday afternoon when the roof slab of an under-construction building collapsed. When the accident happened, the collapse of the roof trapped at least 20 workers under the rubble. The incident occurred approximately at 2:39 pm and the rescue operation was launched quickly.
Under-Construction Roof Collapses In Kannauj
Under the Amrit Bharat scheme, the Kannauj railway station is currently undergoing a renovation. The workers were laying the lintel for the construction of a two-story building. While working, the shuttering, which provides support, failed and caused the roof to collapse. As per the India TV News reports, at the time of the collapse, 40 individuals were present at the site and until now, 23 of them have been rescued while 25 remain unaccounted for.
Soon after the incident, a coordinated rescue operation was launched. The teams from the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Government Railway Police (GRP), Railway Protection Force (RPF), and local police arrived at the scene. Six people from the rescued were found injured and were rushed to the nearest hospital for treatment.
According to the News 18 reports, District Magistrate Shubhrant Kumar Shukl also arrived at the site along with other senior officials. He stated that their priority is to rescue the workers who are still trapped. He assured that they were using all the resources to swiftly carry out the rescue. Currently, the operation is ongoing and heavy machinery is also being used to clear the debris and to save lives.
Rescue Efforts Ongoing As Many Remain Missing
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also expressed his concern over the incident. According to India Today, he directed all the officials to expedite the rescue and relief operations. The medical teams were also instructed to make sure that every injured worker received proper treatment and an investigation has also been initiated to find out the exact cause of the collapse. However, the initial reports suggest that the shuttering was not installed properly. Hence, it couldn’t support the roof, which led to the collapse. This accident has certainly disrupted the lives of workers and their families. While the rescue operation is expected to continue through the night, we remain hopeful that all the trapped individuals are rescued safely.
Cover Image Courtesy: Abhishek Pratap Singh/X