The incident happened around 11.30 pm when the lorry carrying seven huge steel coils was on its way to a yard in Tiruverkadu from Chennai Port.

Due to the accident, the link between Poonamallee High Road and Pallavan Salai was disrupted and vehicles were diverted in different directions. CMRL officials said that the accident happened when the trailer carrying 11 tonnes of steel crossed the stretch of the road, where CMRL had laid decking plates for subway work.

“The trailer, while crossing the decking plate near the metro station collapsed inside the excavation due to overload. The overall weight, including the trailer, was 90 tonnes,” the CMRL officials said in a release adding that no one was injured in the mishap. The driver of the vehicle, Sathishkumar (43) of Tiruvidaimarudhar, was rescued without injuries and the truck was pulled out after much struggle. Preliminary inquiries revealed that the absence of CMRL security guards, owing to Saraswathi puja, to divert the heavy vehicles, led to the accident. “It is not the driver’s fault as he used the stretch at permitted hours,” said a police officer. The subway under work, constructed by CMRL, will link Chennai Central, Park and Park Town railway stations, Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, and the Metro station via underground tunnels.