VISAKHAPATNAM: Two persons died in an accident at the berth number 3 in Gangavaram Port in the early hours of Friday. The incident took place around 2.10 am, when both the victims, standing close to a heap of coal, were directing an operation of a ship and the heap suddenly fell on them.
The deceased have been identified as BV Ramaraju (43), an employee of the port and K Mohan Rao (59), a contract employee.
Gangavaram Port authorities said that using mechanised equipment, the heap was cleared and both the persons were pulled out and then rushed to the KGH.
However, the doctors declared them as ‘brought dead’. The authorities also said that arrangements were being made for performing the last rites of the two dead workers, insurance benefits and compensation as per eligibility.
According to Somasekhar, inspector, New Port police station, the coal heap was part of the cargo that was unloaded from a ship about three days ago.
While the unloaded cargo was being cleared in phases, another ship was berthed in the same berth.
The victims, during the time of incident, were directing the operations of the new ship and that was when the heap collapsed on them suddenly, he said.
“We have registered a case of unnatural death under Section 174 CrPC. There is no human negligence in the case,” he said.
Earlier cases of deaths in port
In September 2017, two contract workers died on the spot and two were injured in the Gangavaram port when the cable of a crane, loading iron beams in a vessel, snapped and the beams fell on
the workers.