Chennai: Boy crushed to death as iron gate collapses

Chennai: A six-year-old boy died on Tuesday morning as a heavy iron gate in a newly-constructed apartment near his house at Porur, fell on him.

The victim, identified as E.Vishal, a first standard student, did not go to school and had stepped out of his home on Ganesh Avenue in Porur to play. While he was swinging on the iron grill gate of a newly-constructed apartment opposite to his house, the gate suddenly got detached from the pillar and fell on him.

The gate weighed around a tonne and the child was crushed to death on the spot, said sources.

SRMC police who rushed to the spot sent the body to a private hospital in Porur for post-mortem.

“I was informed by a man living nearby about the incident. He was soaked in blood,” said Lakshmi, mother of Vishal.

Residents alleged that parts of the newly-constructed apartment were already falling and posed a risk to other neighbours, and that the construction engineers were responsible for the boy's death. SRMC police  are investigating.  The boy’s father, is a daily wager, mother a homemaker.