Falling steel bars kill worker

KUALA LUMPUR: A 40-year-old Bangladeshi worker was killed and another injured after seven steel bars weighing 40kg each fell on them at the Mass Rapid Transport (MRT) Semantan portal construction site along Jalan Duta.

The deceased, Rijaul Abdul Goni, and his colleague Shanaullah, 37, were said to have been tying steel bars to assemble a circular rebar cage at 1.20pm yesterday.

Both men were working together with another colleague then.

“They were on the ground tying the bars together that would be welded together later.

“However, one of the ropes snapped, cau­sing seven bars to fall on the workers,” said KL Fire and Rescue Department deputy operations director Azizan Ismail, adding that the falling bars pinned Rijaul and Shanaullah.

MRT Corp said the other workers escaped without injury.

Their co-workers rushed over to lift the bars off the trapped men.

Rijaul was pronounced dead on the spot by an ambulance crew while Shanaullah sustained injuries on the face.

He was rushed to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital for treatment.

The rebar cage consists of three circular steel rods with 200m long rods attached around it.

The cages are used to set the foundation for piling work.

MRT Corp strategic communications director Amir Mahmood Razak said the bars were about four to five feet above the ground when they fell.

“A portion of the site has been closed until further notice and an investigation is being conducted to see if all safety procedures were followed,” he told reporters at the site.