In a tragic incident during the construction of the third phase of the Samruddhi Expressway in Maharashtra`s Thane district, the death toll has risen to 20 after a crane collapsed on a bridge slab on Tuesday. Several individuals are still feared trapped, and rescue efforts are ongoing, led by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).

Officials said that two more bodies have been recovered from the accident site taking the death toll to 20.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has expressed grief over the loss of lives in the accident and announced an aid of Rs 5 lakh for the families of each of the deceased.

“A few persons are still feared trapped and efforts are on to rescue them,” an NDRF official said.

Three persons are injured in the incident and they are being treated at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital at Kalva in Thane, the official said.

The government will bear the expenses of treatment of the injured persons, Shinde said in a tweet. The accident took place during the third phase work of the Samruddhi Mahamarg.

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The Samruddhi Mahamarg, named Hindu Hrudaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg, is a 701-km-long expressway connecting Mumbai and Nagpur. It traverses 10 districts including Nagpur, Washim, Wardha, Ahmednagar, Buldhana, Aurangabad, Amravati, Jalna, Nashik and Thane.

The construction of the Samruddhi Mahamarg is being carried out by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation. The first phase, connecting Nagpur to the temple town of Shirdi, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in December 2022. It covers a distance of 520 km.

CM Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis inaugurated the 80 km long second phase of the Samruddhi Mahamarg stretch from Bharvir village in Igatpuri taluka to Shirdi on May 26.

Shinde said in May that the third and last phase would be completed by the end of December this year.

More than 100 persons have died in accidents on the 600 km portion of the expressway.

Data from December 11, 2022 to March 20, 2023 shows that mechanical breakdown due to speeding accounted for over 400 accidents, punctures for 130, and tyre-burst for 108.

In January 2018, in a similar case, three labourers died and two others were critically injured when the front part of a hydraulic crane got detached and landed on them while they were constructing a sewerage line inside a 30-foot-deep pit. According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s disaster management cell, the incident happened near the main gate of IIT-B in Powai on Adi Shankaracharya Marg. (With inputs from PTI)

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