2 dead, 4 injured as residential building collapses in Coimbatore

Coimbatore: Two persons were killed and four injured in Coimbatore after a one-storeyed residential building collapsed on Sunday night. One person is still trapped in the debris as on Monday morning.

According to reports, the incident happened around 9 pm on Sunday on Chetti Veedhi near Selvapuram in the city. The house, which was built around 25 years ago, caved in all of a sudden, taking down its adjacent building along with it. Three persons living in the house and four others living in the adjacent house were trapped in the debris.

One storeyed bldg collapsed on Chettiveedhi in #Coimbatore last night. 2 dead and 4 injured. One person still trapped under the debris. @thenewsminute @dhanyarajendran @anna_isaac @PoojaPrasanna4 @priyankathiru pic.twitter.com/M3H775B3pW

— Megha Kaveri (@meghakaveri) September 7, 2020

The neighbours immediately alerted the nearby Bazaar police station and the fire and rescue services. An earthmover was put into service with ambulances and medical services on standby. District Collector K Rajamani and City police commissioner Sumit Sharan also visited the spot to inspect and supervise the rescue operations.

Speaking to TNM, a police officer from the Bazaar police station, who is present at the spot, said that two persons died in the collapse. “Four of them were injured and have been taken to the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital for treatment. One person is still trapped inside the debris and rescue operations are on to take them out,” he said. An FIR has been registered under section 174 of the CrPC (Unnatural death).

While it is suspected that heavy rainfall over the past few weeks might have caused the structure to weaken, the real cause behind the collapse is not known yet.

The Tamil Nadu government has announced a compensation of Rs.1 lakh for the families of the deceased.