VARANASI: A day after the under-construction flyover collapse incident in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi left 18 dead and several injured, survivors recalled the horror that lasted for several minutes. One of the survivors, Rajesh had bought a brand new for his father-in-law. Taking the car out from the showroom, the two accompanied with the driver were passing under the bridge when the incident took place.
“My father-in-law was driving and I was sitting on the left. We had asked the driver to sit behind. Everything happened so quickly that we couldn't even process what happened,” he said. Rajesh's father-in-law was one of the 18 people who died in the incident. “He died on spot,” he added.
Rajesh and the driver escaped death. But both are seriously injured and in hospital. “I have multiple fractures in my legs,” he said.
Another person recalled how he got trapped under a massive slab. “I was riding on the bike. A bus was nearby. Suddenly a huge slab fell on us. My bike was crushed under the bus and my leg got caught,” he said.
Several people got crushed or trapped under the debris in the incident, which took place on Tuesday evening when traffic was at its peak.
Following the flyover collapse incident, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath constituted a high-level investigation team. The three-member team headed by Agriculture Production Commissioner Raj Pratap Singh visited the site and collected details of the project from district officials and the team working on the flyover near the Varanasi Cantonment railway station.
The team has been directed to submit a report within 48 hours. It also oversaw the relief operations.
"I can`t say anything at this moment. Until we complete the investigation, talk to everyone concerned and check all the records, it won't be right to say anything," Raj Pratap Singh, a member of the committee constituted by the government to probe the incident, told ANI.
Adityanath later announced ex-gratia for the affected families and met the victims at the Kabir Chaura Hospital late Tuesday night.
