Pune: At least five workers were killed and six others were injured when a newly constructed 10 feet high water tank imploded because of water pressure and collapsed on them at a building workers' colony at Sadgurunagar in Bhosari around 6.30am on Thursday. The deceased and the injured workers were taking baths under the taps attached to the tank wall.
The construction of the tank was completed on Monday at the colony, set up by a contractor hired by a civil construction company for its ongoing projects in Pimpri Chinchwad. Over 40 rooms in the camp are occupied by over 900 workers from Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal, among other states. The contractor constructed the water tank near toilets, some distance away from the rooms, so that workers could take bath there.
One of the workers in the colony said, "The tank was constructed in a hurry. A water tanker was brought to the colony to fill it around 6am on Thursday before its concrete could set properly. The workers were bathing under the taps attached to the tank wall before their day shift started.
The tank could not sustain the load of the water and exploded within half-an-hour after it was filled." The Bhosari police identified the deceased workers as Mala Mahankur (48), Sudam Behra (32), both of Ganjam district in Odisha, Nabin Jena (49) of Puri in Odisha, Sonu Kumar Paswan (23) of Jharkhand, and Ravindra Kumar Mandal (20) of Purnia in Bihar. The injured victims were taken to three different hospitals in Bhosari.
