Chennai: Man falls into 15-ft pit dug for road work, dies

CHENNAI: A 43-year-old man died after he fell into a 15-foot deep pit dug on the Chennai - Kolkata National highway at Gummidipoondi for construction of a bridge on Thursday night.

Police said, Kaathan, a resident of Panapakkam village near Gummidipoondi at Tiruvallur was working at a private factory in Ambattur Industrial estate.

Since the work was on, the workers had erected a notice board to divert the vehicles but there were no barricades to stop the vehicles. Kaathan, who failed to notice the board fell into the pit, along with the motorbike.

When the workers returned for work on Friday morning they found Kaathan lying dead inside the pit on the highway. His two-wheeler was found atop his body. His body was sent to the Ponneri Government hospital for autopsy.

Preliminary investigations revealed that, Kaathan was returning home from the Kavaraipettai railway station on his bike.

When he was near the old Kavaraipettai police station on the national highway, about 300 meters past the diversion board he plunged into the pit along with the motorbike. He sustained head injuries in the fall and died.

Meanwhile, his wife lodged a missing complaint at the police station on Thursday night after the man did not respond to repeated phone calls. Police said, his house was only a kilometer away from the pit in which he had fallen.

The Kavaraipettai police registered a case of accidental death and are also questioning a few workers, who failed to place the barricades.