One construction worker was killed and three others were rescued with injuries in an accident that took place at a construction site on Mettuppalayam Road near Subramaniampalayam in the early hours of Saturday.
It is learnt that when the workers were laying the concrete mix, arbitrary structures such as iron rods, sheets and wooden poles came crashing down.
Personnel from the Police and Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services carried out the rescue operation. Fire service personnel using a cutting machine fitted with a generator cut the iron roads to rescue four persons who were feared to be trapped. The personnel first recovered the body of a construction worker Sekar (28) of Ramanathapuram district. Subsequently on hearing feeble voices calling out in pain, the rescue team expedited the rescue operations and found Raja (32) brother of the deceased, Ananthan (21), both hailing from Ramanathapuram district and Stephen (24) of Coimbatore. The injured were rushed to Coimbatore Medical College Hospital.
Inquiries revealed that the construction work was on for a commercial complex with the first level being meant for a car show room. The police are holding inquiries with the land owner, engineer and contractor. Police are likely to initiate action by registering a case against those responsible for the accident.
Meanwhile, protesting against the delay on the part of the police for completing the post-mortem of Sekar, AITUC construction workers union activists staged a road blockade in the morning. The road blockade that lasted for 15 minutes led to a minor disruption of traffic. The police immediately arranged for the inquest and the road blockade was cleared.
One more killed:
Ravichandran (49) of Seeranaickenpalayam who was engaged in demolishing an old wall, died after a portion of the wall fell on him. R.S. Puram police are investigating.
