Two engineers have been arrested in connection with an accident at the construction site of a hospital in Kandanchavadi on Saturday night, in which one person died and 32 were injured after a building collapsed.
Around 7.15 p.m. on Saturday, a structure, which was being set up for the construction of a generator block, collapsed on top of around 50 construction workers at the site.
A total of 32 persons — a majority of them migrant labourers — were injured in the accident. Later, the body of Babloo, 27, one of the labourers, was recovered from the debris.
The Taramani police registered a case under Sections 288 (negligent conduct with respect to pulling down or repairing buildings), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 304 A (causing death by negligence).
Murugesan and Silambarasan, the DGM (projects) and the site engineer respectively, were arrested in connection with the accident.
Soon after the incident, around 100 personnel of the Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services from Thoraipakkam, Guindy and Teynampet reached the spot and commenced rescue operations. Later, they were joined by 65 personnel of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF).
Special cutting equipment and rescue machines were used to clear the debris and rescue the victims.
A sniffer dog was pressed into service to scour the wreckage for survivors.
“We found one victim [under the debris]. We continued clearing the debris till Sunday afternoon to check if there were any other victims, but there were none,” an NDRF officer said.
Adjacent buildings hit
The balconies of two residential buildings situated near the construction site were destroyed by the falling debris. “Freddy, a resident of Coimbatore, who works for an IT company, was near the balcony when the accident happened. He sustained injuries, and has been admitted to a hospital,” said a resident of one of the buildings, which offers paying guest accommodation.
Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami expressed his condolences over the death of Babloo of Bihar, and announced a solatium of ₹5 lakh to the kin of the deceased.
