Pune maritime cadet’s death: A rusted basketball pole, complaints that went unheeded & delayed response

How it happened

The incident took place around 7.20 am on Sunday. While most cadets on campus were still asleep, it being a Sunday, Vishal was already on the ground. His classmates say he used to be at the track every morning by 6.30 am. That morning, he was preparing for a track and field athletics event scheduled to begin on campus from Monday.

After finishing his morning training session, Vishal was heading back to Hostel No. 1, where he lived and was part of Morarji House. The basketball court falls along that route. There, he attempted a dunk, a common motion among athletes, leaping up and grabbing onto the rim. The moment he hung from it, the base of the pole, weakened by rust, snapped under the load. The entire structure collapsed, bringing the pole down on his head.

At 7.20 am, the sound of the collapsing pole drew cadets rushing to the spot. They immediately called the institute’s sickbay, located barely 200 metres away from the accident site, where the ambulance was stationed; however, no one responded.

According to first responders and classmates who were present, 7.30 am marks the shift change of the ambulance driver. The next driver had not arrived on time and was, as witnesses recalled, still getting ready at around 7.40 am. For nearly 20 minutes, Vishal lay at the spot of the accident with a severe head injury and no medical intervention.

In the absence of institutional help, the cadets took matters into their own hands. They arranged a stretcher and began manually carrying Vishal toward the sickbay. “On the way, we flagged down a car belonging to a faculty member and Vishal was placed in that car,” a cadet said. The group left the campus at approximately 7.50 am and reached MIMER Medical College and Hospital in Talegaon at 8.14 am, the time officially recorded on the hospital’s emergency intake system.

The Medical Superintendent at MIMER told The Indian Express, “Upon arrival, Vishal’s pulse and oxygen saturation were undetectable. His Glasgow Coma Scale score, a measure of consciousness after brain injury, was 3/15. The doctors present immediately initiated CPR with intubation. Three cycles were performed over approximately 40 minutes. Vishal could not be revived. He suffered a cardiac arrest and was declared dead. His body was sent for post-mortem at PHC Talegaon later in the evening.”

The allegations of infra neglect

According to the senior cadets a formal complaint had been submitted to the institute’s sports committee approximately 22 days before the accident, flagging that both basketball poles in the court were shaking and unstable. “No repairs appear to have been made,” a cadet said.

Vishal’s uncle, Pradip Chaudhary, a tempo driver based in Pune, added, “The basketball pole was painted over the rusted part.”

Senior cadets said that “students at TMI pay approximately Rs 1.5 lakh per year in the name of maintenance of establishments, which includes sports infrastructure. A four-year B.Tech degree in Marine Engineering at the institute currently costs around Rs 27 lakh. All this fee money is hard-earned money,” a senior cadet said.

“The least we expect from the administration is annual maintenance, regular audits, and basic safety provisions,” he added.

Administration’s response

Dr Sanjeet Kanungo, Principal of TMI, called the incident “highly regrettable and tragic” but denied that any complaint had been lodged about the basketball poles being unsafe. He said, “The institute is investigating what medicalcare deficiencies were witnessed and is working to improve them.”

On maintenance, Kanungo said, “A structural audit is conducted every 30 years, and while there is a regular maintenance schedule, no formal audit exists. The basketball pole involved in the accident was erected just before COVID.”

“This particular incident is an accident, and we always take priority for maintenance when a complaint is raised. Though this incident should not have happened, and maybe we should have more stringent methods of checking things, we could not anticipate the disaster that happened on Sunday. There was no omission from our side,” he said.

He added, “The institute would now conduct a safety audit of each department and engage a third-party agency to identify critical areas. He also said discussions about financial remuneration for Vishal’s family are underway.”

Senior cadets, however, remain unconvinced. The institute shut down on Monday, but students have demanded that lectures remain suspended until accountability is established. “The college is considered one of the best in the country,” a senior cadet said. “Students come from almost every corner of India. The least they deserve is infrastructure that doesn’t kill them.”