Van carrying CESC poles hit cab in Howrah, contract worker impaled by hook

A 36-year-old CESC contract worker was killed in a freak accident in Howrah (West Bengal) on Thursday (2016-11-24) when he was impaled by a hook used to lock the load deck of the fault-repair van he was travelling on.
The protruding pole hit a taxi, got dislodged and slammed into Uttam Mondal who was sitting in the trailer.Thrown off by the impact, Mondal landed on the hook.

The accident happened on Salkia School Road, hardly 300m from Howrah station around 11.45am while the mini-truck was reversing after refuelling. The end of the poles which were jutting out nearly 12ft-15ft of the van's rear pierced the wind-shield of an AC cab coming from Howrah station. The cabby had a close shave. However, in the impact, the dislodged poles slammed into Uttam Mondal who was on the van, driving him back and into a hook used to lock the deck.

The person was brought dead with all the organs hanging out. The accident was really gory, according to Howrah hospital superintendent Narayan Chakraborty.

Mondal was an employee of Tarakeshwar Electric Co, an electrical contractor firm engaged by CESC to carry out fault repairs. A resident of Purulia, Mondal was seated on the load deck when the van, used to shift electric poles, reached a fuel station. It took several minutes to move the poles and extricate him from the hook. He was then transported to Howrah district hospital where he was declared brought dead. Incidentally , Mondal had only recently attended a safety workshop by CESC.

Ananta Dutta, a witness, was just behind the cab. He saw Mondal in a pool of blood shouting for help but the driver of the van and his co-workers fled. Dutta got off my motorbike and called the police managing traffic on Howrah Bridge. They came, arranged for a three-wheeler and sent him to the hospital. But that took some time and the man couldn't be saved.

A CESC spokesperson said the incident was extremely unfortunate and the company would examine it to check how a repeat can be avoided. In earlier days service vans that attend to fault calls a long bamboo ladder on the roof which jutted out at both ends. However, CESC has scrapped them and introduced aluminium foldable ladders. Unfortunately on Thursday, the contractor was carrying poles that were long.