Heavy rain on Tuesday night claimed the lives of five people in and around Bangalore, including a one-and-half-year-old child.
Vijay, son of construction workers Varadaraju and Lakshmamma, was washed away in Visvesvaraya Marg, BTM Layout 4th stage, Royal Residency Layout, after falling in the flooded sub-canal of the rajakaluve. His parents said that he was playing near the 4-ft canal, which did not have a bund, with his 10-year-old uncle at 7.40 a.m. when he slipped and fell in it.
Niranjan, a BWSSB worker, said that he saw the child falling into the canal. He said that he and his colleague Rajanna had tried in vain to save the child.
Varadaraju and Lakshmamma, hailing from Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu, had been working in the city for the last four years. They were living in a shed in front of a house under construction in the vicinity of the canal.
Police and Fire and Emergency Services personnel are looking for the body of the child.
This incident has occurred even as the death of six-year-old Abhishek, who slipped and fell into an open drain in Lingarajpuram following heavy rain in May this year, is still fresh in people’s minds.
In another incident near Ananthanagara Gate in Hebbagodi police station limits, four construction labourers were killed on the spot when a compound wall collapsed on the shed in which they were sleeping. The deceased have been identified as Ajit (25), Rama Chetan Das (28), Shahu (25) and Prakash (25), all hailing from Bihar.
