Mudslide at railway Secunderabad work site kills worker: Contractor blamed

A young worker was killed and another is lying critically injured in hospital after the retaining wall of an under-construction bridge collapsed.

Bystanders watch as officials inspect the site where a mudslip at a railway work site killed a young worker on Monday, Oct. 17, 2016, in Ferozeguda, Secunderabad. I Express photo by M Satish

HYDERABAD: A young worker was killed and another is lying critically injured in hospital after the retaining wall of an under-construction bridge collapsed upon them at Ferozeguda near Balanagar in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad earlier this morning.

Contract worker Srinivas (26) was killed on the spot, buried under the mudslip, while three others -- Shankar, Rama Rao  and Ramu – were grievously injured, the last-named critically. They are receiving treatment at the Gandhi Hospital in Secunderabad.

They were a group of 20 workers -- all of them from Srikakulam -- engaged to carry out manual work on an under-bridge being built for a new railway track at Ferozguda.

Survivors said they had been complaining to the contractor that the retaining wall appeared too weak to hold the embankment of the under-bridge. But he asked them to continue working, they said.

"We had been seeing smaller mudslides regularly. But the contractor forced us to continue the work," one of the injured workers, Rama Rao, said.