Chennai: A building under construction collapsed on Wednesday evening killing two and injuring two persons. The police have detained the foreman and the supervisor and are investigating.
The victims were identified as S. Gunasekaran (23) of Tiruvarur and Raja (26) of Cuddalore. Gunasekaran was one of the supervisors of the site while Raja was a surveyor.
According to police sources, the incident happened at around 4.30 pm when the workers were engaged in removing the cement slabs on the first floor of the building that consists of a basement, a stilt and two floors in Venugopal Avenue in Chetpet. “Once the slabs were removed, the pillars failed to withstand the weight and as a result, the ceiling collapsed trapping workers,” the police said.
Gunasekaran died on the spot, while Raja died at the hospital. S. Arul (25) of Villupuram and P. Manikandan (23) of Cuddalore are under treatment. However, Arul, who is in Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, is critically injured and is in intensive care.
On information, fire and rescue department joint director M. Sahul Hameed, additional commissioner of police M.C. Sarangan, joint commissioner T.S. Anbu and other senior officers rushed to the spot and speed up the rescue works. Chennai Collector V. Anbuselvan also visited the spot.
Nearly 50 workers, most of them from Hyderabad and Kolkata escaped unhurt in the incident and they were sent to a safe place. The police also barricaded the building and prevented the entry.
Meanwhile, it is learnt that entire building, which would have hosted a restaurant, belongs to a famous chain of restaurant and the entire building has been constructed using precast pillars and floors. The construction works began in February and set to finish in June.
At the same time, the police also suspect the poor quality of precast pillar as the possible reason behind the collapse and are interrogating the private company representatives. The police also detained supervising officer of the building Meenakshinathan and foreman Megaraj and are interrogating. Chetpet police have registered a case.
