Nine migrant workers from Orissa and Assam were killed and three others injured when a wall under construction collapsed in an educational institution at Kunnam village in Sunguvarchatram police station limits on Monday.
According to the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Sriperumbudur, R.Gajendran, the tragedy took place around 4 p.m. while the migrant workers were engaged in raising a 40-foot wall as part of an indoor auditorium-cum-basketball court complex at Jeppiaar Institute of Technology, Jeppiaar Nagar in Kunnam.
While six workers, standing near the wall to pass on bricks made of cement fly ash and cement mixture, were trapped under the debris, six others – Saagar, Chatrughan, Rangai, Binoth, Bishal and Naren – who were engaged in raising the wall suffered injuries.
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On coming to know of the incident, police rushed to the spot and made arrangements for transporting the injured to the District Government Headquarters hospital at Kancheepuram. Saagar, Chatrughan and Rangai were declared dead on arrival and the other three injured persons were referred to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, Chennai, at around 6 p.m.
Earthmovers were pressed into service to clear the debris and retrieve the bodies of Mondu, Sangaji, Bhahilu, Biswam Batra, Dabha and Chatrihan, the DSP added.
The Superintendent of Police, Kancheepuram Police District,S. Manoharan, visited the accident site and directed the police to locate the contractor, who had taken up the construction work, and the agent, who had provided the manpower,
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The college, which comes under Anna University, is managed by Jeppiar Educational Trust. College Principal, who is in Ahmedabad, for a seminar could not be reached for comments.