Whole bridge collapsed in seconds, says witness

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In the news for all wrong reasons, the collapse of a foot bridge outside the main venue for 2010 Commonwealth Games on Tuesday added yet another blot to the Commonwealth Games, which have been embroiled in a series of controversies and corruption charges.

Panic struck outside Jawaharlal Nehru stadium at around 3.10 pm on Tuesday when the steel bridge, which connects the main stadium to a parking lot, collapsed and a group of labourers working at the site saw their fellowmen bleeding and trapped under masses of steel. There was little they could do to help them till the police and rescue teams arrived at the spot.
“I was welding iron plates to a part of the bridge. Suddenly, we heard creaking sounds and one part of the bridge came crashing down. I ran away. The whole bridge collapsed in seconds,” Muhammad Istikar, a labourer from Uttar Pradesh who was present at the site when the accident happened, said. “I tried to lift the debris from one of the labourers but failed. He was screaming for help. Then we rushed to the contractor and informed him about the accident,” he said.
As soon as the policemen arrived at the scene, barricades were placed around the site and contingents of mediapersons and onlookers were kept away from the site of accident. Out of 27 injured, 23 are admitted in All-India Institute of Medical Sciences. “Four injured are critical while the other four have suffered heavy injuries. The remaining 15 have been given medical assistance too and they will be discharged in a day or two,” a hospital official said.
The patients who are critical are Punnu, 22, Jitender 23, Triveni 40 and Nirmal 33. Punnu and Jitender have suffered head injuries. Triveni has suffered injuries in the chest and spinal cord while Nirmal has suffered severe injuries in thighs and spinal cord. The other four patients admitted in Safdarjung are recovering well, hospital officials said.

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LG reviews status of Games Village
Age Correspondent
New Delhi

Sept. 21: Lieutenant governor Tejendra Khanna on Tuesday reviewed the status of preparedness at the Games Village and decided to induct more manpower to ensure cleaning and maintenance of apartments in towers. It was also decided to put one officer each from the Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar Civil Service in charge of each tower in the Games Village to ensure complete coordination in all operations, including maintenance and cleaning among other works. The meeting was also attended by mayor of the Games Village, principal secretary to Prime Minister, Cabinet Secretary, Delhi chief secretary and other senior officials.
“It was noted that international zone and dining area were completely ready and found acceptable to the Games Associations. Duri-ng the past few days, certain deficiencies in the residential zone had been pointed out by some delegates, which had been promptly attended to,” a statement issued by Raj Niwas said.