01.08.2020

Port crane takes 11 lives

A 70 tonne port crane collapsed while undergoing overload testing earlier today at the Hindustan shipyard in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, on India’s east coast - roughly half way between Chennai and Calcutta.

The crane was built and installed two years ago by marine and industrial crane manufacturer Anupam Crane Company, and was being tested following some remedial work. The rail mounted crane was carrying out a lift when it simple tipped and came crashing down. 10 of the 11 people who died were on the crane superstructure at the time it overturned.

In addition to the 11 fatalities, three others were injured. The company said that four of the deceased were shipyard employees while seven were contract workers. The shipyard had only recently outsourced the operation and management of the crane to Greenfield Company.
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Visakhapatnam district collector V Vinay Chand said: “We have outsourced the operations of the crane to Greenfield, which co-opted Lead Engineers and the Quad7 company for maintenance operations.”

“They were testing the load capability of the crane when the base portion and the overhead cabin separated resulting in the collapse of the crane. 10 persons were in the cabin including three employees of Greenfield company, two of Lead Engineers and one of Quad7 apart from four permanent employees of Hindustan Shipyard. One other person who is yet to be identified also died.”

Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh YS Jagan Mohan Reddy visited the site and has spoken to Chand.