Five construction workers were killed and 16 others injured when a concrete structure under construction at the residential quarters of the Central University of Tamil Nadu campus at Neelakudi village in Tiruvarur district collapsed on Sunday, trapping the victims under the falling debris.
Rescuers searched for survivors and bodies for more than seven hours.
Eyewitnesses said workers were filling concrete in a pergola that was supposed to serve as the entrance to the guest house and the Kendriya Vidyalaya located in the residential quarters of the CUTN campus when the scaffolding of the staircase landing gave way and crashed in a trice, giving little time for workers to scurry to safety.
First, one of the four four-stage vertical columns rising to a height of 60 feet cracked, even as the scaffolding for the reinforced cement concrete cross-beam crumbled from a height of about 20 feet.
The major damage was caused at the staircase landing, the eyewitnesses said. Rescuers had to cut metal and remove wet concrete to reach them.
The injured were all rushed to the Tiruvarur Medical College Hospital, where five workers were declared brought dead.
The deceased were identified as Chinnasamy (29) and Kumar (35), both from Mayiladuthurai, Kittu (26) of Odisha, Ram Subodh (18) of Uttar Pradesh and Shamir Kumar (26) of Odisha.
The police have arrested Anand, the general manager of construction company; site engineer Prabhu; quality engineer Satish Kumar and labour contractor Ayyanar were arrested following a complaint by RI Vijaya and cases booked under Sec. 304 (ii), 336, 337 and 338 of IPC.