Three workers— all of them in their 20s, were crushed to death and five others injured on Thursday in a freak accident that took place inside a warehouse located in Seegehalli near Bengaluru’s Whitefield. All the three died after heavy racks filled with crates full of goods, fell on them like dominoes after one of the racks was apparently overloaded.
“I saw the racks falling one after the other and I ran out of the warehouse. I could hear my colleagues screaming as the racks fell on them,” The Hindu quoted Diganth, another employee as saying.
The deceased have been identified as Farooq, 22, Subhash, 26, Jnan Dharshan, 25. They were declared dead while the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) managed to save another worker Ramakanth. Four other workers viz. Kuladeep, Janakiram, Narayanaswamy, and Baahubali were also injured and all of them were stuck for five hours under the pile until rescue personnel could reach them.
Rescue operations were carried out by the Karnataka Fire Department, Civil Defence Quick Response Team and the NDRF.
“The other three were dead by the time our teams were able to extricate them, between 5.30pm and 6pm,” Shivanna B from the NDRF told The Hindu.
The death toll could have been higher had some of the workers not gone out for a break.
According to police, the incident occurred at around 12.30pm. The warehouse was operated by a Delhi-based supply chain management startup Holisol Logistics since June 2017.
Jurisdictional Whitefield Deputy Commissioner of Police Abdul Ahad said a case of death by negligence (IPC 304) has been registered and the company business head as well as site superintendent, Ajay Kanwar and Amanullah, have been arrested.