Thane: In an unfortunate incident, two men were crushed to death after a massive tree fell on them due to gusty winds near Thane railway station on Tuesday night.
The victims have been identified as Aman Liyakat Shaikh (19), who worked in a private firm and lived with parents in Mumbra, and Roopchand Jaiswal (30), a hawker. Jaiswal lived in Gavdevi area in Thane with wife and two children.
In a strange turn of fate, Aman, who used to travel by train, due to heavy rain, decided to go by bus. He was standing at the bus stop near the huge tree and Jaiswal was standing next to him.
Passers-by alerted the police and the Regional Disaster Management Cell (RDMC). Aman was declared dead on arrival at the hospital while Jaiswal, who was recuperating at the hospital, succumbed to injuries on Wednesday early morning.
Santosh Kadam, chief officer from Regional Disaster Management Cell, Thane, said, "Due to the downpour and strong winds, we received 11 tree-fall complaints and four tree branch-fall complaints. In this incident, a huge tree caused two deaths.”
Reportedly, 698 trees have fallen in the last five to six months across Thane city. On July 10, 2019, an auto rickshaw driver, Shreeram Yadav, got injured after a tree fell on his auto when he was taking a lady passenger from Lokmanya Nagar towards Mulund check naka.
Says Shreeram Yadav, “I was admitted in hospital for 15 days and spent nearly Rs 2 lakhs on treatment. My left hand and leg are inactive and I am unable to stand by myself.
I have been forced to take bed-rest for the last three months. I live with my wife and two children and am the only earning member of my family. I appealed to the Thane Municipal Corporation for some compensation, but they refused.”
