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Indian police quiz Chinese over chimney collapse
New Delhi (AFP) Sept 27, 2009 Indian police said on Sunday they were questioning Chinese engineers and site workers as part of investigations into how a power plant chimney collapsed, killing 41 people. China's Shandong Electric Power Construction was one of the firms contracted by Balco, a subsidiary of London-listed resources giant Vedanta, to build the electricity station in central Chhattisgarh state. "We are taking statements from the Chinese team on the chimney collapse," senior police officer Ratanlal Dangi told AFP by telephone. Eighty Chinese nationals have been involved in the construction of the plant, he said. "Some of them were preparing to leave the country so we requested the state and central governments to ensure they do not leave before investigations are complete," Dangi said, adding that no arrests had been made. The partially built 275-metre (900-foot) chimney caved in on Wednesday, killing scores of Indian labourers and leaving many others badly injured under piles of debris. "We have gone through almost 95 percent of the rubble," said Ashok Agarwal, a Chhattisgarh state official. "We will continue our efforts to ensure no one is buried." According to Dangi, bad weather had been ruled out as a cause of the accident and police have registered a case of culpable homicide against Balco. "We are looking through their records, their tenders, what materials they were using to build the chimney, whether there were any design or implementation flaws," he said. Hundreds of rescue workers have been struggling to remove a huge pile of smashed concrete that covered the site where the chimney collapsed. On Thursday, a top union official told AFP he feared that more than 100 people had been killed, and a lack of formal records about the number of employees working at the scene has complicated rescue efforts. Construction site accidents are relatively common in India, where health and safety rules are routinely flouted. Share This Article With Planet Earth
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