Four workers were killed on Saturday evening when a portion of an under-construction chimney collapsed at a power plant in Asansol in West Bengal, in an accident that struck on the festive evening of Saptami.
Officials said construction work was underway at Shyam SEL And Power Limited in the city’s Jamuria neighbourhood, and several workers were on site when the structure gave way.
Jamuria MLA Bijan Mukherjee said four people were trapped and pulled out following the chimney collapse. While three were already dead, the fourth was rushed to a hospital and placed on ventilator support, but did not survive.
“As for the rest, the moment they saw the structure collapsing, they managed to get out. But for those four… call it fate or whatever you will that they died on Saptami (seventh day) of the Durga Puja. It is a very tragic incident. We tried our best to rescue everyone, but couldn’t save our four brothers,” the MLA said.
Asked whether negligence was to blame for the Asansol power plant accident, Mr Mukherjee declined to draw that conclusion. “I wouldn’t call it that. Shyam SEL is a reputed company and the workers are well-trained and have been doing this for a very long time. It was freshly laid concrete. Somewhere, somehow, an issue arose,” he said.
He added that safety gear was in use at the site and that an inquiry would be conducted to determine what caused the portion of the chimney to collapse.
The tragedy unfolded around the same time as a deadly stampede at a Durga Puja pandal in Kolkata, roughly 200 km away, on Saptami evening. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said 18 people, including 13 women and a child, were killed and 25 injured in the Kolkata pandal stampede, making it a grim day for West Bengal as the state marked the third day of the Durga Puja festivities.
Original Source: https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/4-killed-after-part-of-chimney-collapses-at-power-plant-in-bengals-asansol-12200624#publisher=newsstand
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Publish Date: 2026-10-18 01:01:00
