PRAYAGRAJ, Aug. 27 -- A major accident was narrowly averted on Monday evening during the construction of the country's second-largest six-lane bridge over the Ganga river in Prayagraj.

According to reports, engineers were attempting to transfer a pre-constructed pillar of the bridge from a container vessel onto a trailer truck, which was meant to carry it to the construction site. However, during the transfer, the crane lifting the heavy pillar lost balance and toppled into the Ganga, along with the trailer truck and the pillar.

At the time of the incident, hundreds of onlookers were recording the operation on their mobile phones. Videos of the mishap quickly went viral on social media.

Following the accident, company officials assesse...