LAHORE - A senior citizen has been crushed to death by a crane engaged at the under-construction track of Orange Line Metro Train.
The accident happened yesterday in the limits of the Sabzazar police station, while the crane operator was arrested shortly after the incident.
Six people have already lost their lives while working on the site of Orange Line Metro Train project.
Police have registered a case against driver and was trying to identify the deceased person.
Last Monday, two workers lost their lives while two others get serious injuries when a crane collided to live electricity wires at the multi-billion project.
The unfortunate incident took place when the crane bumped into the wires as a result of which the labourers died on the spot due to electrocution at project site in Kibria Town Raiwind Road near Thoker Niaz Beg.
The dead labourers, Muhammad Anwar and Muhammad Shabbir, were the residents of Narowal. “The body of one worker got entangled with live wires and remained hanged for several minutes while the other’s fall down with fire burned him into ashes,” said an eye-witness.
Around two to three thousand labourers engaged at the project are working without taking any safety measures. The authorities, however, are just silent spectators as no one dares to ask the powerful contactors.
Since the inception of the project, Labour minister Raja Ishfaq Sarwar has been claiming that the Labour and Human Resource Department had finalised the “effective inspection mechanism to ensure Occupational Safety and Health for labourers working on the construction packages of the Lahore Orange Line Metro Train”.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif also expressed grief and sorrow over the deaths, directing the authorities to provide every possible medical aid to the injured, besides an investigation to determine the causes of the accident.
The 27km long Orange Line is an under construction project of the Lahore Metro network, financed and developed by the Government of China as a part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) through the Export-Import Bank of China.
Once completed, it will connect Raiwind, Multan Road, Mcleod Road, Lahore Junction and the Grand Trunk Road.