Construction sites are commonplace in a developing nation such as Malaysia, to the point where perhaps we’ve gotten used to it. That being said, I can’t be the only one who still feels the eeeby jeebys (is that even a word?) whenever i’m passing a site that’s doing work directly over the road I’m using.
I mean, come on.. it always looks like something could just fall at any moment but of course, safety procedures are undertaken to ensure that doesn’t happen. Every now and then though, accidents do happen and things collapse.
Today, one of the construction sites for the Light Rail Transit 3 (LRT3) project in Klang did just that. A metal frame for the LRT3 project collapsed during construction work near the Meru Market Complex in Klang this morning and while no one was hurt in the incident, I’m never driving past another construction site ever again.
Jokes aside though, It is understood that the collapse occurred in the wee hours of 5 in the morning on the 17th of june. There’s no news yet on the cause of the collapse but Selangor Traffic Investigation and Enforcement Department chief Supt Azman Shariat confirmed the incident, saying that police arrived at the scene as soon as it was reported and controlled the flow of traffic in the area.
He added that “Roads in the area were closed in both directions and detours were also made. Further investigations into the incident are still underway.” As you’d expect, pictures of the collapse have been circulating on social media and it looks quite bad.
Needless to say, the comments weren’t kind on those behind the project. Some accused the construction company of trying to cut corners, while others fault the engineers for not calculating the load balance properly.
Whatever it is, I think we can all agree that more stringent safety measures need to be taken to ensure that this doesn’t happen again. This particular incident happened at 5am. Imagine if it had happened during rush hour? Frightening stuff.