Heavy rain claims six lives in Karnataka

Two of them are labourers who drowned while laying pipes for a residential layout in Bengaluru

The spot where two labourers drowned in Bengaluru on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: K. MURALI KUMAR

Six people, three of them in Bengaluru, lost their lives in separate incidents as heavy rain wreaked havoc across Karnataka on Tuesday.

Two contract labourers died while laying water pipes for a residential layout in Janana Bharathi, while another labourer slipped from a 40 ft. high rooftop of a building in Sompura industrial layout in Dabaspet.

The two labourers, identified as Ankit Kumar Sahani, 23, from Bihar, and Dev Bharath Kushwaha, 37, from Uttar Pradesh, were forced to work overtime while it was raining and drowned in the pipe even as their colleague, Triloki, made futile attempts to pull them out. Triloki, the complainant, also alleged that despite informing the project manager, the site engineer and the labour contractor, they came to the site only the next day to pump out water and pull out the bodies.

Video | Rain in Bengaluru was cool till it became dangerous

The police arrested Shiva Kumar, project manager; Harish Reddy, site engineer; Manoj Yadav, labour contractor; and Narasimharaju, H.R. Manager of Mega Engineering and Infrastructure Estate (MEIL) charging them under causing death by negligence.

Request to put off work ignored

Triloki told the police that he, along with eight others, were laying pipes near Ullal lake for the Cauvery fifth stage work by MEIL. The workers wound up work by 4 p.m. on Tuesday when it was started raining. The accused Shivakumar, Harish Reddy, and Manoj Yadav arrived at the spot and asked Triloki, Ankit, and Dev Bharath to stay back to finish wielding work till 9 p.m., and asked the others to go home.

Their request to finish the pending work the next day citing bad weather went in vain, and the they were asked to finish work by 9 p.m., Triloki alleged. Ankit and Dev Bharath then got into the pipes, while Triloki was asked to help them with the required tools. There was no ladder to climb down, and the opening of the 6 ft. deep pipe was as narrow as 2 ft.

Wile they were wielding, rain water began flooding the pipe. The two workers tried to climb up, but as there was no ladder, they drowned. Triloki tried to pull them up, but failed. He raised an alarm for help, but no one was around. He did not have a mobile phone to inform the labour contractor.

Around 9 p.m., another labourer, Pawan, came to the site, and the duo informed the accused. However, they turned up at the site only at 6 a.m. on Wednesday. Water was then pumped out and bodies extricated, Triloki told the police.

Labourer falls from rooftop

A labourer was killed after he slipped from the rooftop of a chemical factory in Dabaspet. The deceased, Sakanna, 54, a resident of Baragenahalli in Sompura, joined Organic Aromatic Chemicals only a few days ago. On Tuesday, While he was cleaning the rooftop sheets, and clearing the stagnant water, he slipped and fell from a height of 40 ft sustaining severe injuries. Sakanna, who didn’t have a safety harness, was rushed to near-by hospital where he was declared brought dead.

Photos | Wet & cold summer in Bengaluru

Pre-monsoon clouds over Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru on May 16, 2022.  This summer, Bengaluru has been receiving rain since April. As a result, average temperate has been below normal and the city has been relatively cool this summer.

Heavy rain led to inundation of Mysuru Road in the evening of May 17, 2022. 

Commuters and pedestrians put themselves at risk when they walk in flooded areas because of the possibility of falling in an open manhole or a drain.

You can gauge the depth of the water that had accumulated on Mysuru Road in Bengaluru on the evening of May 17, 2022.

You can never tell how many death traps are hidden under this water

People venture out in their personal vehicles.

The morning revealed the risks. A portion of the road, around Namma Metro pillar # 489 on Mysuru Road near Bangalore University junction, was washed away following heavy overnight rains, in Bengaluru on May 18, 2022. 

Two persons were washed away during heavy rains while working inside a huge pipe, which is part of Cauvery 5th Stage drinking water pipeline project of BWSSB, on the double road of Ullal Upanagar BDA Layout in the western part of Bengaluru, on May 18, 2022. 

A third person, who was working with the duo in the pipeline project at Ullala Upanagara, was lucky enough to escape their fate. But, how may people have to die or lose their homes and belongings before the Karnataka Government and the BBMP solve the problem of flooding during every spell of heavy rain in Bengaluru.

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The Dabaspete police have registered a case of causing death by negligence against the factory owner. He is survived by his wife and two daughters aged nine and six years old.

Wall collapses on youth

A 28-year-old youth died on the spot after a school wall collapsed on him at Rangenahalli in Hassan district on Wednesday. Shivakumar, a native of M.K. Hosur in Channarayapatna, was taking shelter next to the wall when it collapsed. The villagers said the wall had been weakened following incessant rains.

2 killed in lightning strike

Two people died, while two bullocks, a cow, 19 goats and 11 sheep perished in lightning strike in different parts of Kalyana Karnataka region on Tuesday evening.

Two farmers, Parvati Nandakumar, 49, in Khatak Chincholi, Bidar district, and Bhimanna Hirekurubara, 38, in Mangihal, Yadgir district, were the deceased.

Elia, 35, a farmer in Antavaram, Kalaburagi district, was injured in a lightning strike and was rushed to hospital.

Published - May 18, 2022 11:30 pm IST