With the recovery of five more bodies from the debris, the death toll in the collapse of a 11-storey building at Moulivakkam in Chennai has gone up to 47.
According to sources in the rescue team, the death toll is expected to rise.
Vikas Singh Pan (26) of Odisha who was rescued on Tuesday afternoon following a two-hour-long ordeal said that over 30 persons were watching television on the floor he was, when the disaster happened on Saturday evening. This has given rise to fears that more people could be trapped under the debris.
The rescue efforts are continuing in full swing at the accident site.
PTI adds from Bhubaneswar:
Rs. 5 lakh for kin of dead workers from Odisha The Odisha government on Wednesday announced an ex-gratia of Rs. 5 lakh each for the kin of those killed and Rs. 50,000 for injured persons in the building collapse incident in Chennai, official sources said.
Expressing profound grief over the incident which took place on Saturday, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik directed the State’s Labour Secretary to coordinate with the Tamil Nadu government and ensure proper treatment of three injured labourers who hailed from the State.
Some workers from Kashinagar block in Odisha’s Gajapati district were engaged in work when the building collapsed in Chennai on Saturday evening.
>Read an earlier version of the story here.
Watch the video of rescue work undertaken. Video: V. Ganesan
