Worker electrocuted, colleague hurt at metro site

A fitter working at a Namma Metro site in Mahadevapura, East Bengaluru, was electrocuted and his colleague wounded  after the boom of a crane came in contact with a high-tension power line (11kV) around 10.45 pm  on Friday.  

Rabi Murmu (21) and Gauranga Gauniya (23)  were shifting a pier cap reinforcement cage with the help of  a mobile crane, and the mild rainfall exacerbated the situation. "While shifting the pier cap cage, the boom of the crane became electrically induced, as the crane passed through an overhead high-tension line (11kV). The metal cage became electrically charged and the two workers, who were holding the cage, received an electric shock," the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) said in a statement.  

Murmu died while  Gauniya is undergoing treatment at a private hospital and is said to be out of danger, the jurisdictional Mahadevpura police said.  The site engineer and the supervisor have been booked for causing death due to negligence.  

The workers were hired by a civil works labour contractor. The work site is part of Namma Metro's eastern extension from Baiyappanahalli to Whitefield under Phase 2.