Four persons were killed and 10 others injured after a decades-old building collapsed in Srirangam on Wednesday even as a foundation for a new building was being laid.
When a group of about 16 construction workers was engaged in raising the foundation for a house on a plot on West Uthira Street, the building adjacent to the plot collapsed all of a sudden around 3 p.m. Most of the workers were trapped under the debris.
On information, Fire and Rescue Service, police and Tiruchi Corporation personnel rushed to the spot. Earth movers were pressed into service to rescue the trapped persons. While four workers were killed on the spot, six others were rescued from the debris. Four women escaped with minor injuries. The injured have been admitted to the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital in Tiruchi and the Government Hospital in Srirangam, the police said.
The deceased were identified as Lakshmanan (50) and Gobi (40) of Kuruvanpatti near Mannachanallur, B. Ramesh (47) of Pudu Street in Srirangam and Ranganathan (27), civil engineer, Thennur in Tiruchi.
P. Andi (47) of Veeramanipatti, one of the workers who escaped, told The Hindu that they had been discussing the poor condition of the wall in the adjoining building, but even before anything could be done, it collapsed. ‘The building collapsed like a match box within a few seconds. I could not believe it,” said Logammal of Veeramanipatti.
Collector K.S. Palanisamy, City Police Commissioner Sanjay Mathur and Corporation Commissioner M. Vijayalakhsmi supervised the rescue operations. Tiruchi Corporation officials said that plan approval had not been obtained for the new construction.
This is the second building collapse in densely-populated areas of the city this year. In October, one person was killed after a building under renovation collapsed near the Nathervalli Dargah.
