A school van narrowly escaped a major mishap after a granite slab and construction material fell from an under-construction line 9 of the Mumbai metro in Mira Bhayandar of Thane, Maharashtra. The debris from the metro slab collapse punctured the school van’s tires, causing havoc on the road below. The incident took place around 11:50 am on Monday while the construction on the Medetiya Nagar metro Line 9 (Dahisar to Mira Bhayandar) was underway.

Post the incident, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) imposed a Rs 10 crore fine on the contractor, J Kumar.

Images and videos showed broken concrete slabs and tiles scattered on a road under the under-construction Medetiya Nagar metro station. No casualties or injuries were reported in the Mumbai metro slab collapse incident.

No casualty or injuries were reported in the Mumbai metro slab collapse incident

A school van parked near the incident site was also seen in the images, leading to circulation of reports that the granite had fallen on the school van. The MMRDA has refuted the claims.

Clarifying on the rumours linked to the slab falling over the school van, the MMRDA said, “We would like to clarify that no granite stones fell on or directly struck any school van/bus in the incident.”

“The granite stones fell within the barricaded work area. Subsequently, a vehicle passing through the vicinity ran over some scattered pieces of granite, resulting in punctured tyres. No students were present in the vehicle, and no injuries were reported,” it said.

Mumbai metro slab collapses: How it happened

The MMRDA has said that the slab collapsed when a crane, while moving a construction material lifting container, accidentally crashed into some stacked granite stones near the FOB area, causing some to fall.

The area below the under-construction station of the Mumbai metro was marked with a few barricades and construction tape. Since traffic was moving on the road during the time of the incident, a school van, which was passing through, ran over some collapsed slabs and had its tyres punctured.

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While contractor J Kumar has been fined Rs 10 crore, Gajanan – the contractor for station integration – and Systra-CEG – the general consultant – have been ordered to pay Rs 1.5 crore and Rs 1 crore, respectively.