Labourer killed, another injured as about 2.5 ton iron structure falls on them

Kolkata: A labourer was killed and another injured after an iron structure weighing about 2.5 tons fell on them while lifting at the Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) on Wednesday afternoon in Rajabagan area.

Police have registered an unnatural death case and started a probe. The GRSE authorities have also initiated an inquiry into the incident.

According to police, on Tuesday around 3:30 pm, several labourers were working at 01 Block Fabrication Unit where ship construction work was going on. The labourers were making efforts to fix the side cell to a block. The side cell is made of iron weighing more than 2.5 tons and is levered to a crane fixed with two nylon slings attached to it. The crane is used to lift the objects which would be fixed to the iron block. While the manufacturing work was going on, one of the nylon slings snapped and as a result, the crane failed to hold the iron-made side cell weighing nearly 2.5 ton and fell on the labourers identified as Rajnish Shukla (35) of Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh and Gopal Mallick of Howrah.

As a consequence, both of them sustained injuries and were rushed to a private hospital in Ekbalpore area where Shukla was declared brought dead. The other labourer, however, was treated and discharged from the same hospital after a few hours.

During enquiry, police came to know that Shukla was a contractual labourer working under a contractor of the GRSE. On Thursday, GRSE came out with a statement informing that an enquiry has been initiated by them as well besides the police investigation.

The statement read: “We deeply regret the occurrence of an unfortunate incident at our shipyard premises on 16 Jul 2025, wherein two employees of one of our contractors was injured. The injured were immediately rushed to a city hospital; later one of these contractor’s employees succumbed to his injuries while the second person has sustained only minor injuries.

We have constituted an enquiry into the incident and are also cooperating with the authorities and local bodies appropriately. In these difficult times, we empathise with the family of the deceased employee of the contractor.”