In yet another case of a building under construction collapsing in Bangalore, at least two labourers, including a woman, died and eight were injured when the ground floor of a six-storeyed structure caved in at Someshwara Nagar on Monday.
The Fire and Emergency Services personnel, who rushed to the spot and launched operations to clear the debris, fear that at least two more labourers could trapped under the rubble.
The collapse of the ground floor of the building was triggered after the basement sunk in by at least 10 ft, said fire force officials. There was concern in the neighbourhood as the rest of the structure tilted precariously over the adjoining houses. The structure, which is part of a residential complex coming up on 10,000 sq ft of land on a narrow lane in Someshwara Nagar 9th cross behind NIMHANS, belonging to a builder named Mohammed Saleem, a resident of MICO Layout, had violated building bylaws by constructing four additional floors against the sanctioned plan of ground plus two, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) H.S. Revanna said.
He said that the contractor had deployed around 60 labourers for work in the building.
But, when the incident occurred between 9 a.m. and 9.15 a.m., many were away for breakfast.
“If all of them were around at the time, the number of casualties would have been higher,” he added.
