Twenty three of the 28 people involved in the construction of a viaduct at Sarlambe Village in Shahapur Taluka remained trapped beneath the heavy machinery for hours.
Among the first responders were the five colleagues, who got in local inhabitants from the neighbouring villagers and also raised an alarm with the state emergency wings.
Narrating about the incidents, Sameer Shaikh, a local resident shared, "We came to know about the girder launching machine collapse in the morning at around 4 am. After reaching there, we found many workers stuck inside. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Thane Disaster Response Force (TDRF) came at around 5.30 am."
Most of the workers involved hail from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The injured were taken to the ill-equipped Shahapur Hospital and later were shifted to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital in Kalwa.
Shaikh added, "As per the villagers and workers, the incident took place due to the current passing through the electric pole located near the site."
Meanwhile Deepak Tiwari, NDRF Commander while speaking with The Free Press Journal said, "We received the information regarding the incident at around 1:30 am and our two teams reached the spot at around 5:30 am for the rescue operation. On Tuesday till 6 pm, in the evening we recovered around 20 bodies and three people were injured. The rescue operation was still on at around 6:45 pm."
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