Ground floor of two-storey building in Madurai, sinks

Residents of the building managed to escape; officials said incessant rains could be the cause

Efforts are on to demolish the building as a precautionary measure

Several residents of a two-storey building, housing six dwelling units and a shop, had a miraculous escape after the entire ground floor sunk into the ground at Meenakshi Pallam in Madurai on Wednesday.

City police and Madurai Corporation officials rushed to the spot and cordoned-off the area to prevent any untoward incident.

According to one of the residents, M. Manimaran (39), each of the three floors has two houses and the ground floor has a shop too.“The walls in the houses had started developing cracks last night. We could not close the doors too,” he said. However, the families spent the night in the building.

In the morning, when workers of the shop on the ground floor found that they could not open the door, they attempted to break it open. As the building shook all the inmates of the houses fled from the scene at around 11.30 a.m.

While his wife and son had gone out to the ration shop, Manimaran was just returning home from a tea shop, when an elderly woman -- his neighbour, told him about the fresh cracks in the walls. “Even as we were talking, the crackling noise increased and building came crashing down. Within seconds, I pulled the woman out and we both came out to a safe distance,” he said. “A youth who was taking a bath at the time, jumped to the next building. A young woman escaped with minor injuries,” Mr. Manimaran, a tailor, said.

A Corporation employee said that the three-decade old building had sunk into loose soil after the recent incessant rain. The first floor has come down to the ground and the building now leans against a neighbouring building.

Mr. Manimaran said that all his belongings, including valuables have been trapped under the debris.

Efforts are on to demolish the building as a precautionary measure.