Chennai: In the heavy rains that lashed the city for a couple of days, seven people have died in separate accidents in the city, taking the death toll since the northeast monsoon's advent since October 27 to 10. Friday began with the death of a 70-year-old beggar whose body was found floating near the service lane of Marina in the morning.
The morning walkers identified the body and police suspected that he would have fallen off from the pushcart on which he was sleeping and drowned in the knee-deep water. Though his identity is not known, passers-by told he was seen sleeping on the pushcart for a couple of days.
In another incident, a 60-year-old woman died in a wall collapse on Thursday night at Ennore. The woman identified at Radhiya was living alone in her dilapidated house and was sleeping at the time of the incident. Her neighbours found her dead amid the debris. In a case at Giriappa Street in T Nagar, a 28-year-old tea master died in a lightning strike. The victim, Prashanth fainted when he was placing sandbags before his shop to prevent rainwater from entering his house.
At Nanganallur, a construction worker died of electrocution in a building under construction. The man, Gajendra Babu hailing from Bihar was carrying construction materials to the fourth floor when he suffered an electric shock in the lift and died. He was one among 10 workers engaged in construction.
At Basin Bridge, a 20-year-old contract worker fell to death when he was cleaning debris on the Basin Bridge. The man, Kamalesh was washed away in floods and was one among the ten employees who were clearing the debris to prevent stagnation of rainwater.
At Periamedu, a man identified as Mukesh was found lying dead in rainwater. His body was floating in the water on Thursday night. At Pallavaram another man was found dead in the quarry and the police are yet to establish his identity.Other accidents that occurred after the onset of monsoon include the death of two ITI students at Anakapathur due to Lightning strike when they were standing on their terrace and a death of 65-year-old woman who fell into the water that was stagnant in the Sandiappan Street - Konnur High Road junction.
