DISASTER AFTERMATH
5 OFFICIALS DETAINED AFTER KOLKATA FLYOVER COLLAPSE
Indian Police have detained five officials from the construction company building the flyover in Kolkata that collapsed last Thursday, killing 23 people.
The five IVRCL Infrastructure officials are being questioned over possible culpable homicide, punishable with life imprisonment, and criminal breach of trust, which carries a prison sentence of up to seven years, police said. Police also sealed the Hyderabad-based company’s Kolkata office. IVRCL signed a contract in 2007 to build the overpass, and was far behind schedule for the project’s completion. “We completed nearly 70 per cent of the construction work without any mishap,” IVRCL official KP Rao said last Thursday. He was not among those detained on Friday. “We have to go into the details to find out whether the collapse was due to any technical or quality issue.”
The flyover fell in a busy neighbourhood, leaving an enormous pile of concrete slabs and twisted metal rods. Rescuers have said there was little hope of finding any more survivors from the disaster, which also left more than 80 people injured.
“The rescue operation is in its last phase. There is no possibility of finding any person alive,” said SS Guleria, deputy inspector general of India’s national disaster response force. He said workers were focused on the recovery of dead bodies and removal of debris.
Police earlier said 67 people had been pulled out alive.