Uttara girder crash tragedy: Crane operator among 9 held

Uttara Girder crash tragedy

Dhaka, Aug 17 – Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) Wednesday arrested the operator of the crane that tilted to one side and dropped a concrete girder on a passing car, crushing five of a family to death in Dhaka's Uttara.

The elite force also arrested the operator's assistant, a security guard of the contractor firm and six others from Dhaka, Gazipur, Sirajganj, and Bagerhat in a case filed over the accident, ASP Imran Khan of Rab headquarters (media wing) said.

On Monday, a BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) project girder came crashing down on the car near Uttara's Jasimuddin road when it was being moved onto a trailer, suggesting the use of cranes of insufficient strength in the project.

Rubel, 50, Fahima, 40, her sister Jhorna, 28, and Jhorna's two children Jannat, 6, and Jakaria, 2, got crushed inside the mangled car.

Fortunately, a newlywed couple – Rubel's son Hridoy, 26, and his wife Ria Moni, 21, – also travelling with them escaped death.

It came exactly one month after a worker was killed by a falling crane in the Gazipur part of the BRT project, and last year six workers escaped with injuries after a part of a launching girder collapsed near them, close to Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka.

A case was filed at Uttara West Police Station over Monday's accident accusing the crane operator, contractor company China Gezhouba Group Corporation and unnamed people. - UNB