15.11.2024

Structural failure

Video footage has reached us of an incident in Bhopal, India this June in which a dilapidated truck mounted platform from the local municipality suffered a critical structural failure, seriously injuring at least two people.

The incident occurred as local councillor Jitendra Singh Rajput and his uncle, were trying to place a garland on the statue of Maharana Pratap (the King of Mewar, in north west India in present day Rajasthan from 1572 until 1597) to mark the anniversary of his birth. The two were in the bucket/fibreglass platform of the articulated truck mount, at a height of around six to seven metres.
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The councillor was signalling the operator on the ground to provide a little more outreach, which did not seem to be available on the old machine. So, they then leaned forward with the garlands, and before placing them a catastrophic weld failure occurred causing the bucket to drop suddenly. As the fibreglass platform dropped away from them the two men appear to have landed on the base of the statue first which might have brutally broken their fall a little.
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The two were taken to hospital possibly with a third person who had been standing below. We know that Rajput suffered a head injury and broke his leg in the fall, while both suffered broken ribs and other leg injuries. Both they and the people below appear to have had a lucky escape.
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A glimpse of the work platform

The video below catches the moment the platform gave way.