Kolkata flyover collapse: 2 more bodies extricated, toll rises to 26

Kolkata: Two more bodies were extricated from underneath the pile of debris of the collapsed under-construction flyover in central Kolkata, pushing the death toll to 26.

Kolkata Police disaster management team along with fire fighters extricated bodies of two men from underneath the rubble of concrete, which was possibly part of a small temple at the mishap site, a senior Kolkata Police officer said. The number of people injured was 89, he said.

Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi visited the site and met the injured in hospital during the day. “There has been a tragedy here. I have come here to give them whatever little support I can provide,” he said.

Asked to comment on the allegations of lapses in the construction of the flyover, Gandhi said, “I have come here to meet the injured. I'll not talk about politics.”

Later, addressing an election meeting at Niyamatpur in Burdwan district, Gandhi said Trinamul men got the work contract for the flyover. “People have died, TMC did not suffer any loss,” he said.

Meanwhile, BJP hit out at Mamata Banerjee alleging that she allowed IVRCL to continue with the construction of Vivekananda flyover, despite knowing that the company was “blacklisted”. 

“When Banerjee was Railway Minister in 2011, a contract was awarded to a JV in which IVRCL was a partner for constructing a tunnel in J&K,” BJP national secretary Siddharth Nath Singh said. Quoting an IRCON document, he said the tunnelling project started during the subsequent two TMC Railway ministers followed by Congress incumbents.