Factory roof collapse: Weak pillar led to mishap, says injured worker

Persons who suffered injuries in the factory roof collapse at Focal Point, Phase 8, late on Saturday evening were rushed to Fortis Hospital here.

Till the filing of the report, five of the injured workers were sent to the hospital. Neeraj was admitted with a head injury and a CT scan of his head was done, which came out normal. Abhilash had a fractured tibia (lower leg) while Avtar complained of lower back ache and his X-ray was done, which was normal. Krishan had fracture of tibia fibula (lower leg). Sintu had pain in the left hip. His X-ray was done, which was also normal.

Neeraj, who had received an head injury, said when the hydra machine was doing the work of pillar shifting and he was standing near the machine, the roof collapsed and afterwards, he did not remember anything and received injury in the head.

One of the workers at the hospital said at the time when the incident occurred, the work of pillar shifting was going on. “The pillar of the building had loosen strength and a new pillar was being installed right next to the existing one and a crane was called to carry out the work and then, the roof collapsed and we could see nothing. There was no escape route,” he said.

Abhilash, whose leg got fractured, further said it took over half an hour to rescue them. “The building’s pillar was weak and work for the same was going on. The incident occurred around 6 pm. The building is nearly 25 years old and at the time of the incident, nearly 20-25 workers were working inside the building. My leg is paining badly and I have suffered a fracture,” he said.

Civil Surgeon Pardeep Mohindra, who also reached the scene, said they had deployed medical teams and ambulances on a 24-hour basis at the spot till the operations were complete. All patients rescued till now have been referred to Fortis Hospital and the Health Department is in touch with the team of doctors and patients are out of danger.

The Municipal Corporation and the Fire Safety Department have also been directed to depute their additional staff at the scene round the clock.