Kolkata: Death toll in the flyover collapse in North Kolkata's Girish Park area rose to 24 this morning as the army and other emergency workers battled through Thursday night to rescue dozens of people still trapped under the debris.
An official from the site said that rescue work has been going on war footing. The military and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams are using heavy earth movers and gas cutting paraphernalia to complete the operation as soon as possible but several more hours will be needed to clear the debris.
Around 250 metres of the under-construction 2.2 kilometre-long Vivekananda Road flyover crashed onto dense traffic around 12.30 pm on Thursday near one of the city’s most important business districts, Burrabazar.
Anil Shekhawat, a spokesman for the NDRF, said seventeen survivors out of 92 rescued were still undergoing treatment at hospital. Most suffered multiple fractures and were in a critical condition, he said, adding that the death toll was expected to rise, with an unknown number of people still trapped under the wreckage.
Yesterday, CM Mamata Banerjee said that the clearance of debris will take two-three more days and appealed to the local residents to help the police and disaster management team in their pursuit.
The state government has announced an ex-gratia compensation of Rs 5 lakh to next of kin of the victims and Rs 2 lakh to gravely injured people.
The administration has opened an Emergency Operations Centre at the state Secretariat. The helpline number is 1070. The Kolkata Police Control Room helpline numbers are: 2214-3024, 94326 24365.
Meanwhile, Chief Secretary Basudeb Banerjee said that a high level inquiry has been ordered into the flyover collapse while the city police commissioner Rajeev Kumar handed over a report about the incident to the Chief Minister.
West Bengal Governor KN Tripathi, who visited the spot, has sought a report of the incident from the state government.
