Commotion prevailed in the local Sunnapu Veedhi area of the temple city, after a two-storey building collapsed, killing one of its residents and grievously injuring another, in the early hours of Wednesday.
According to sources, the incident occurred around 6.30 a.m., when passers-by noticed the building trembling and collapsing floor by floor, onto the road. The ‘25-year-old edifice’ housed a fruit outlet on the ground floor, a family of three — mother and two daughters — on the first floor, and the top floor was unoccupied. Though, locals tried to save the sisters — C. Greeshma (18) and C. Niharika (15) — who were in the house, by setting up ladders and urging them to jump, the latter could not be rescued as the structure gave away, burying them among the debris.
Municipal and fire department officials reached the spot and managed to pull them out of the rubble, rushing them immediately to Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences (SVIMS) Hospital. The younger girl, Niharika, died while undergoing treatment, whereas Greeshma was shifted to CMC-Vellore for better medical care. “The girls’ mother, C. Latha (45) was not present during the building collapse, as she left for her regular chores at 5 a.m. Her husband died couple of years back, leaving the two girls behind. Niharika was supposed to join Intermediate and Greeshma wanted to pursue engineering,” C. Krishnaiah Shetty, grandfather of the victims, told The Hindu .
Meanwhile, residents of Sunnapu Veedhi blamed municipal authorities for the collapse, linking it to the ongoing drainage construction works in the area.