Gurgaon: Three road construction workers died and one was feared trapped after a part of a crane collapsed on a container used by workers as a resting area near Faridabad’s Panhera Khurd on Thursday afternoon. Police said one worker was rescued.DCP (Ballabgarh) Prateek Agarwal confirmed the death and claimed the accident happened due to bad weather. Delhi-NCR was hit by a thunderstorm on Thursday afternoon. The incident occurred between 1.30pm and 2pm at the site , which is part of an 11km elevated road connecting Faridabad to Greater Noida and eventually Noida International Airport in Jewar. No FIR had been filed at the time of filing this report.Of the 22 labourers at the site, 4-5 labourers were inside the container — used for cooking and resting — when the crane failed. Rescuers cut through the mangled structure using mechanical cutters and pulled out two workers.Preliminary accounts suggested heavy rainfall earlier in the day had left the ground muddy and unstable, and construction had only just resumed when the crane portion collapsed. An official of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) said the accident happened due to adverse weather conditions and was not a safety lapse.“Prima facie there were no safety lapses. Due to strong winds, the crane got damaged and fell on the iron container,” the official said, adding that the incident amounted to “a natural calamity rather than a safety lapse at the project site”. A second official said the construction contract was allotted to APCO Infratech.Faridabad police spokesperson Yashpal Yadav said teams reached the spot immediately after being informed. “Rescue operations are continuing to evacuate the remaining trapped workers,” he said. Work was suspended following the accident and authorities launched an investigation. Police said the cause will only be established after a detailed probe.“The rescue operation is still on,” said ASI Amarjit of the State Disaster Response Force, which was deployed at the site.
