In a shocking incident, a state-run bus and a car met with an accident after Chennai’s prominent Anna Salai caved in on Sunday.
Visuals from Anna Salai show a Honda City car and an MTC bus crash into a huge crater that had suddenly formed on the road near Church Park school.
It is unclear how many people were travelling in both vehicles and if any injuries were sustained.
Initial reports suggest that around 35 people were inside the bus, and sustained minor injuries. Some of them were taken to the Royapettah Government Hospital.
Since it was a Sunday, there was very little traffic on the road.
Chennai police officials have cordoned off Anna Salai – which is an arterial road in the city.
The cave-in is believed to be a result of the ongoing tunnelling work being carried out in the vicinity, for the metro rail project.
According to sources, the cave-in occurred during a cutterhead intervention procedure. In other words, when the head of the boring machine is paused for inspection.
Due to loose soil, or a lowered water table, or numerous other factors, cave-ins may occur.
The bus driver who was interviewed said that it felt like “the tyres of the bus were slowly being deflated, and the bus was gradually sinking”.
This is the second such incident on Anna Salai in ten days.
On 30 March, the same stretch had caved in, throwing traffic out of gear. The Chennai Traffic Police had then said that the road had caved in owing to the metro construction.
The Chennai Metro Rail is carrying out tunnelling work along Anna Salai, where the metro line will be underground.
In December 2015, a giant crater formed along the Anna Salai-Vijayaraghava Road in Teynampet. On that occasion too, the road cave-in was blamed on the metro construction.
A 10-foot stretch on Poonamallee High Road, another arterial road in Chennai caved in in June 2015 owing to tunnelling work for the Chennai Metro Rail. The cave-in even witnessed a car getting stuck in the crater. However, the occupants in the vehicle escaped unhurt.
(With inputs from The News Minute.)
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