Driver killed as girder collapses on pick-up van during elevated highway work in Kerala

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The driver of a pick-up van was killed when a concrete girder on the under-construction Aroor-Thuravoor elevated national highway-66 in Alappuzha, Kerala, collapsed on top of the vehicle early Thursday (November 13, 2025). The deceased was Rajesh, 44.

According to the police, the accident occurred around 2.30 a.m. when workers lifted the girder for the overpass and placed it on a hydraulic jack, which then skidded from its intended position, causing the massive steel-reinforced concrete beam to fall onto the pick-up van passing below.

Officials said it took emergency workers and local volunteers four hours to move the beam away from the vehicle, which was crushed under impact, to extricate Rajesh.

Workers flee

Local residents told reporters that the construction workers fled the scene after the accident, leaving cranes and other heavy-lifting equipment behind, which delayed the rescue. They said the casualties would have mounted if the girder had fallen on a transport bus tailing Rajesh’s van.

The accident caused congestion on the busy arterial road for hours early in the morning. The police diverted vehicles from Cherthala to Ernakulam through the Poochakal-Aroor route.

Daleema Jojo, MLA, representing the Aroor constituency, told reporters that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had erred. “Safety precautions require NHAI contractors to impose traffic restrictions or divert traffic from the worksite when they undertake perilous work, such as placing heavy beams on the under-construction flyover. However, it seems they threw caution and public safety to the wind and allowed traffic,” she said.

The MLA said she has requested that the District Collector and the District Police Chief ensure that the NH-66 work does not imperil road users.

K.C. Venugopal, Alappuzha MP, told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram that he had warned the NHAI of such perils. He said the collapse of an embankment for the elevated NH-66 at Kooriyad, near Tirurangadi, in Kozhikode in May had raised serious concerns about the safety practices followed by NHAI contractors.

He criticised the Kerala government for “failing” to maintain and manage traffic on the service road below the under-construction elevated NH-66 in Alappuzha. “The State government has not utilised the funds the NHAI has provided for maintaining service roads. At least 40 people have died from accidents caused by poor construction and inadequate traffic regulation on the Aroor-Thuravoor service road segment,” he said.

Meanwhile, the police moved Rajesh’s body to a government hospital in Ernakulam for inquest and post-mortem examination. His relatives said they would not accept the body until the government and the NHAI announced fair compensation for the grieving family.

One of Rajesh’s neighbours said the driver was the sole breadwinner in a family that included his wife, two daughters, and an ageing father. He mentioned that one of Rajesh’s daughters was chronically ill and the family could hardly afford her treatment.