Two killed as lift plummets at Vijayawada thermal station

Vijayawada, March 19:  Two workers were killed in an incident of lift collapse at Dr. Narla Tata Rao Thermal Power Station (NTTPS) at Ibrahimpatnam near here on Sunday.

The incident occurred when the lift cable snapped.

There were around 20 workers in the lift, which got stuck apparently due to overloading.

Other workers managed to get down but the cable snapped with two workers still inside. As a result of this, the lift came crashing down from a height of about 70 meters.

Both the workers sustained grievous injuries and were rushed to the NTTPS Board Hospital. However, both were declared dead.

The deceased were identified as Chotu Kumar Singh (23) and Jitendra Singh (24), both hailing from Jharkhand.

The bodies were shifted to Vijayawada Government Hospital for autopsy. Police registered a case and took up investigation.

Some workers at the plant complained that the lift capacity was only for 10 people, but there were 20 people in it and heavy material was also being moved through the lift.

The contract workers were working on the plant's stage V, which is under construction.

Labour unions staged a protest at the plant demanding that the management pay compensation and give jobs to the families of the deceased. The plant officials assured them that they will take steps to prevent recurrence of such incidents.