3 workers killed, 11 injured as scaffolding collapses at water

Three labourers were killed and 11 others injured when scaffolding put up for the construction of two giant water tanks for a sewage treatment plant collapsed here Monday, police said.

A total of 20 labourers were enganged in the construction work when the scaffolding for the centring work at one of the tanks came crashing down around noon, they said.

Three workers died in the collapse while 11 injured had been admitted to two hospitals. Six others escaped with minor injuries, police said.

The tanks were being built for the sewage treatment plant with a capacity 100 million litres of effluents per day for the Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), official sources said.

Karnataka Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Krishna Byregowda, who rushed to the spot, told reporters 20 people were working at the site and three of them died.

As per the contractor's written statement, as many as 20 people were working and all have been accounted. The National Disaster Response Force personnel also scanned the area using an electronic device and confirmed none were trapped.

"Yet, we don't want to take chance. We are removing the scaffoldings," the Minister added.

The construction work, which began one-and-half years ago, had been entrusted to a private company, he said.

Expressing grief over the incident, Gowda announced a compensation of Rs five lakh each to the kin of the deceased.

The state government would bear the medical expenses of the injured, he said adding a thorough probe would be conducted into the incident.