KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 27 — One worker was killed and another injured following an accident at the Semantan work site of the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line today.
The incident occurred at approximately 1.20pm at the construction site contracted to Sunway Construction, MRT Corp Director of Strategic Communications and Public Relations Amir Mahmood Razak said.
“The workers were on the ground assembling a rebar (reinforcing bars) cage... during the assembly, the tie gave way. The rebars fell and hit the workers,” he said, referring to a circular cluster of long steel rods each weighing 40kg.
He added that the cause of death of Rijaul Abdul Goni, 40-year-old worker from Bangladesh, was still unknown pending a post-mortem report.
Amir said the worker could have succumbed to internal injuries but did not want to speculate further.
Shanuallah, 37, also a Bangladesh national, was injured and taken to Hospital Kuala Lumpur.
Amir could not confirm the injuries sustained by Shanuallah.
Amir added that another worker, Rozlu Karim, was involved in the incident, but did not sustain injuries and will serve as a witness throughout the duration of the investigation.
“He will be a witness for the investigation. We already convened a meeting at 4.30pm just now,” he said.
The trio were hit while standing at predetermined spaces while lifting the bars, Fire and Rescue Department assistant director (operations) Azizan Ismail said.
“They were tying the steel rod to make a circular frame, and then it fell, maybe about five to six steel rods fell on them.. maybe, about five to six feet up,” Azizan said.
Last August, three Bangladeshi construction workers were killed at a Kota Damansara site after a 38m-long span weighing 650 tonnes was dislodged from a guideway under construction and fell to the ground below.
This incident prompted MRT Corp’s then chief executive Datuk Azhar Abdul Hamid to offer his resignation and take responsibility for the accident. The company later rejected his resignation.
Last June, a slab of metal fell from an MRT construction site in Pusat Bandar Damansara onto the main road and crushed the passenger side of a car. There were no passengers in the vehicle and the driver escaped unhurt.
The Klang Valley MRT project is Malaysia’s most ambitious infrastructure undertaking and aims to connect the Greater Kuala Lumpur area via a three-line rail transit network. The construction of its first line began 2011 and is scheduled for completion in 2016.
