Overhead water tank crashes down in Rourkela

A 70-feet-high overhead water tank of the public health engineering department came crashing down at Civil Township area in this steel city in Odisha today but there was no casualty, officials said.

Executive Engineer of PHED, Anup Patel said the tank did not have much water when it came crashing down as it had finished the morning supply and fresh loading was yet to be done.

A building housing an office of power utility company WESCO located around 15 feet away and some vehicles were damaged in the incident, the officials said.

"The tank, which supplied water to the entire civil township area, was constructed around 37 years ago. We are taking necessary steps to ensure proper water supply to the area, he said.

An official of WESCO said his office was severely damaged in the incident, but the staff had a narrow escape as no one was inside the building when the huge structure collapsed and fell on it.

"Our office suffered extensive damage. Computers, other gadgets, furniture and records were badly damaged as the building has virtually crumbled after the tank crashed," said Junior Engineer Atman Mishra.

"We escaped unhurt as we had left the office for some work a few minutes before the incident," he said.

A few vehicles were partially damaged in the incident, the police said.