Flex falls on signal crowd; 4 died

5/10/2018

PUNE: Four died while nine were seriously injured in a hoarding collapse near Juna Bazaar on Friday afternoon. The incident happened on a busy traffic hour where hundreds of commuters were at the signal.

The deceased Shyamrao Dhotre (48) and Bhimrao Kasar (70), Shivaji Devidas Pardeshi (40), Javed Nisuddin Khan (45) were killed when the hoarding came crashing down on them. The Sassoon Hospital declared them dead on arrival. Other victims - Javed Khan (45) and Shivaji Paradeshi (40) 1 succumbed to grave heady injury later at the hospital.

The eyewitnesses to the incident stated that the incident was so brutal that the deceased were brutally killed on the spot. After the deceased and injured were taken to Sassoon Hospital, the fire brigade and railways started the work on removing the collapsed hoarding.

According to the Sassoon Hospital authorities, the injured persons include a four-year-old child Samarth Paradeshi, Kiran Thosar (19), Yashwant Khobre (45), Mahesh Vishveshwar (50), Rukmini Paradeshi (55), Samriddhi Paradeshi (16), Kailash Gaikwad and an unidentified 55-year-old man.

Sunil Gilbile, division officer of the fire brigade said, "Five fire brigade vans were deployed for the rescue operations. The injured were immediately shifted to Sassoon Hospital." The hoarding allegedly illegal was built up on a railway land. The railway contractor was reportedly cutting the illegal hoarding from morning hours.

Krishnakant Patil, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager said, " This is unfortunate incident. As we learnt about this news, we rushed to the spot and helped the affected victims. We have ordered a high level inquiry committee to investigate into this." The incident has left the commuters and citizens shocked who expressed fear in commuting through such areas where huge hoardings have been put up.

Abdul Khan who lives close to Juna Bazaar said, " The railways always had this hoarding here where several posters are put up. These hoardings are living deaths for locals because one never knows when such incidents happen. If they were cutting this, they should have kept a warning sign or barricade to alert people. This is sheer negligence."