BENGALURU: Three people were killed while five others were injured when massive iron racks fell on them at a logistics warehouse at Seegehalli near Whitefield on Thursday afternoon. The warehouse belonged to Holisol Logistic Pvt Ltd, a wholesale firm which supplies fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) to various online shopping portals.
The deceased have been identified as Farooq (21), a resident of Koralur near Hoskote; Subhash (35) and Jnana Darshan (25), both hailing from Odisha. The National and State Disaster Response Force and fire and emergency services personnel carried out search operations till 9.30 pm after the three bodies were pulled out.
Police said the incident occurred around 12.30 pm when massive iron racks — floor-to-ceiling high — inside the warehouse tilted and fell on other racks creating a domino effect. The loaded crates placed on the racks crashed down, burying several employees.
While some managed to come out by themselves, eight were stuck under the crates. The employees managed to pull out four of them while four others got stuck. The fire and emergency services personnel, who were alerted, rushed to the spot and brought out one more person while three others remained under the heap of crates and iron racks. The personnel from the National and State Disaster Response Forces also joined the operations and all three bodies were finally retrieved.
While Ramakanth managed to survive even after being buried under the crates for long hours, Farooq, Subhash and Jnana Darshan died. The injured have been identified as Kuladeep, Janakiram, Narayanaswamy and Baahubali and they are being treated at a hospital.
Sunil Agarwal, Additional Director General of Police, Karnataka State Fire and Emergency Services, who was monitoring the rescue operation, said the incident occurred when scores of staffers were working in the warehouse and the iron racks stacked with crates and cardboard boxes came down on them. The Kadugodi police, who have registered a case, have arrested the company’s business head Ajay and site in-charge Amanullah.
NDRF team kept waiting
It is alleged that the NDRF personnel were alerted late about the incident and even after they reached the spot, they were made to wait by the fire department officials. “We were alerted almost an hour after the incident. Though a team reached the spot in 15-20 minutes, another 30 minutes were wasted as the fire officials had taken over the situation. The operations could have been started early if they had involved us sooner,” an NDRF staffer said. The NDRF personnel, although better equipped and trained to deal with rescue in such situations, were merely asked to stand by.