Two girls, aged 16 and 18 years, were injured when a part of their house collapsed in Sahul Hameed Nagar in Kannur on the outskirts of the city off the Mangalore-Bangalore National Highway. The tiled roof house suffered damage after a portion of compound wall fell over it after overnight rains.
Sunaina (18), her two younger sisters Sansad (16) and Sabrat (17) were in the house along with their father Younis, a labourer and mother Mumtaz. According to their neighbour Sharief, the area witnessed heavy rainfall in the night.
Around 3 a.m. a large portion of compound wall collapsed and fell over Mr. Younis’s tiled roof house. “There was a big sound and we all came out running out of the house to see Younis and his family members trapped in the house, part of which too had collapsed.” Only around 6 a.m. Younis and his family members were pulled out of the rubble.
Ms. Sunaina and Ms. Sansad had injured their legs and they were not in position to walk out. “Fortunately the two slept in the bedroom. If they had slept in the hall there would have been less changes of (their) survival,” said another neighbour Abdul Rehman. It was the compound wall between Abdul Rehman’s house and Mr. Younis’s house that had fallen down.
While the whole portion of the hall had come down completely, the roof portion of the remaining part of the house had been damaged due to its exposure to the open. Mr. Younis and other family members had moved to the Government Wenlock Hospital where Ms. Sunaina and Ms. Sansad have been admitted.
Inaccessible roads
This house is one among the 70 households in Sahul Hameed Nagar, which is located on a hill across the railway track. Sahul Hameed Nagar and the adjoining Ballurgudde residents, who are also located on the hill, have long been asking for a railway level crossing that provides road connectivity to Kannur and Mangalore. Presently these residents have to walk cross the railway track and reach the city. “The nearest level crossing is located at Adyar and we do not have road access,” said Mustafah, another resident.
On Thursday, Sahul Hameed Nagar residents had to carry the injured girls across the railway track and then arrange for an autorickshaw to reach them to the Government Wenlock Hospital. Local councillor Sudhir Shetty and personnel from Mangalore City Corporation were at the spot to clear the debris.
