Displaying items by tag: Death

India: Basant Kumar Birla, chairman of BK Birla Group, has died at the age of 98 in Mumbai. He is survived by his grandson Kumar Mangalam Birla, the head of Aditya Birla Group, the owner of UltraTech Cement, amongst many other family members, according to the Times of India.

Part of the influential Birla family of industrialists, Basant Kumar Birla originally started working at Kesoram Industries before turning the business into a conglomerate with concerns in cement, engineering, medium-density fibreboards, pulp and paper, rayon, shipping, tyres, tea, chemicals and other sectors. BK Birla Group reported a turnover of US$2.4bn in the 2018 – 2019 financial year. At present the group now comprises five major companies - Kesoram Industries, Century Textiles & Industries, Century Enka, Mangalam Cement and ECE Industries - and several smaller subsidiaries.

Image of Basant Kumar Birla by Biswarup Ganguly CC BY 3.0

France: Bertrand Collomb, the former president of Lafarge, has died at the age of 76 years. He was the chief executive officer (CEO) of the building materials company from 1989 to 2003 and was later its president until 2007.

Collomb joined Lafarge in 1975 after various roles in government. He became the CEO of its North American subsidiary in 1985 before leading the company as a whole. Notable achievements during his tenure included the acquisition of the UK’s Redland and Blue Circle. Lafarge also set up a Chinese joint-venture in 1994 before many of its Western competitors.

Austria: Franz Struzl, the former chief executive officer (CEO) of RHI, has died at the age of 76 years. He was the CEO of the refractory producer from 2011 to 2016.

Struzl studied at the Vienna University of Economics and Business in 1965. After more than 40 years at Alpine Steel Group (later Voestalpine), he became the chairman of Voestalpine in 2001. He held this position until 2004 and soon afterwards became CEO of Voestalpine, Brazil (Villares Metals), remaining there until 2010. In 2011, he joined RHI as CEO. Struzl also participated in the first negotiations regarding the merger of RHI and Magnesita. He retired in 2016 due to illness.

India: Three contract labourers have died at the ACC Sindri cement plant in Jharkhand. The labourers were working on a conveyor belt when it unexpectedly started running, according to the Pioneer newspaper. Other workers were also injured in the incident. A police investigation is underway.

India: Two employees have died from a fall at the Birla Corporation’s cement plant at Maihar in Madhya Pradesh. The workers reportedly fell from an overhead platform, according to the Press Trust of India. Materials stacked on the platform also fell, burying the workers and other labourers. Piyush Tiwari, a mechanical engineer aged 35 years, and Prabhu Dayal Patel, a labourer aged 40 years, both died at the scene. The other labourers were unhurt. Local residents protested at the site following the accident setting fire to administrative buildings and two vehicles. Police are investigating the fatalities.

India: A welder has died at UltraTech Cement’s Reddipalayam plant in Tamil Nadu. The contract worker died following a fall from a height of 8m, according to the New Indian Express newspaper. Relatives and local residents staged a protest following the incident.

Pakistan: Mohammad Amin Dadabhoy, the chief executive of Dadabhoy Cement Industries, has died. The company operates an integrated plant at Nooribad in the Dadu District of Sindh.

Germany: Two workers have in died an accident at a construction site within the HeidelbergCement Schelklingen cement plant, when a 40m-high scaffold collapsed within a silo. Four others were involved, with one slightly injured. All six operatives had entered the silo from the top. Spokesperson Elke Schönig said that the scaffolding had become ‘staggered’ for unknown reasons and then partially collapsed. The incident will be investigated.

Italy: A 37-year old maintenance worker died on 9 August 2018 at the Buzzi Cement plant at Fanna, Pordenone, Italy. It was his first day on the job. Initial investigations have indicated that he was electrocuted by touching live electrical equipment. Investigations continue.

Ethiopia: Deep Kamara, the country manager of Dangote Cement Ethiopia, has been shot dead in an attack by unknown assailants. A driver and a secretary were also killed in the incident, according to the Addis Standard newspaper. The attack took place at Inchini, near to the cement producer’s Mugher plant.

A local government source that spoke to the newspaper said that Kamara had recently visited the plant as part of discussions between the company and local residents. Oromio state suffered riots in 2016 and 2017 with damage incurred to Dangote Cement’s plant on several occasions.