Man crushed to death on Metro site

A 25-year-old driver was crushed to death after a girder, which was being transported for the construction of Metro line, fell on him in the western suburb of Kandivali, the police said on Friday.

The incident took place in the early hours of Friday on the Western Express Highway, where the construction of a Metro line is in progress, an official said.

Arshad Shaikh, an employee of the construction company J Kumar, was driving an escorting vehicle behind a trailer that was transporting the girder to Dahisar, he said.

The girder, weighing at least 100 tonnes, was apparently not secured properly, as it fell on the escorting vehicle, senior inspector of Samta Nagar police station Raju Kasbe said.

While two other passengers escaped the crash by jumping out of the vehicle, Shaikh was crushed to death, he said.

An offence under section 304 (A) (death by negligence) has been registered against the driver of the trailer and the probe is underway, he said.