Shaky structure shocks all: 3 die, 11 injured in Bengaluru building collapse
Bengaluru: A five-storey half-finished building collapsed, leaving three men dead and 11 injured and many trapped in the debris Thursday evening near Jail Road in Kasavanahalli, close to Sarjapura.
The dead have been identified as Anwar Ansari and Sher Ahmed, painters from Uttar Pradesh, and Raju from north Karnataka. Eleven labourers were rescued and rushed to nearby hospitals for treatment. All are between 25 and 35 years of age and hail from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and North Karnataka.
A senior police officer, who visited the spot, said the building tilted to the left and fell on a provision store, but fortunately its owner was not indoors at the time.
With more people believed to be trapped under the debris, 100 fire fighters along with the city police and National Disaster Rescue Force (NDRF) are continuing the rescue operation.
While two bodies have been recovered, the police suspect there may be more dead. They have no idea as yet about how many could be trapped either.
Going by the locals, the foundation for the building was laid around six years ago and the owner recently sold it to a Kerala businessman, who resumed its construction . The building was almost complete, when it collapsed. It is believed the foundation had weakened owing to stagnant rain water.
It was reportedly built for commercial establishments to begin with, but the owner now wants to reportedly convert it into a paying guest accommodation.
Mayor Sampath Raj said the police had been told to take action against the owner and contractor, but for now the priority was to rescue the trapped labourers.
City police commissioner, T. Suneel Kumar, who visited the spot, directed the jurisdictional DCP to ensure that the owner was booked. The police are currently on the lookout for him.
DCP (Whitefield), Abdul Ahad said BBMP executive engineer, Mahadevapura zone, Muneer Reddy and the owner of the building, Sameera had been detained and the investigation was in progress.
The building belongs to Mr Kunji Mohammed, a Kannur businessman , who owns a departmental store in Kasavanahalli. He reportedly bought it for his daughter, Sameera and was planning to turn it into a paying guest accommodation.
