45. 2009 Korba Chimney Collapse, India
Built: 2009 (Under Construction)
Collapsed: 2009
Est. Damages: $350,000*
On September 23, 2009, in Chhattisgarh, India, a 902-foot chimney collapsed, killing forty-five people. The Korba chimney was part of a thermal power plant, which was constructed by Vedanta Resources. Lightning struck the chimney while people were working on it, and it collapsed on top of them.
2009 Korba Chimney Collapse, India @menkesdriek / Youtube.com
Workers were furious at the tragedy, so much so that they killed a project manager at the site of the collapse before rescue workers got there. In 2009, Vedanta officials were arrested for negligence. Supervision, monitoring, and materials were all found to be substandard. Water curing was improper as well, as the design was faulty. Had these errors been corrected, the storm wouldn’t have caused the collapse.