Four construction workers die as compound wall of private college collapses in Coimbatore

Four construction workers were crushed to death and one person was injured when the compound wall of a private college in Coimbatore collapsed on July 4

Four construction workers were crushed to death and one person was injured when the compound wall of a private college in Coimbatore collapsed on Tuesday.

The police said a portion of the compound wall of Sri Krishna Arts and Science College at Sugunapuram on Coimbatore – Palakkad Road collapsed on top of the victims when they were working on erecting a new wall beside it.

The deceased were identified as Kolli Jeganathan, 53, Nakkela Satyam, 48, and Rapaka Kannayya, 49, of Vizianagaram in Andhra Pradesh and Bish Ghosh, 24, of Malda in West Bengal. Barun Ghosh, also from West Bengal, suffered injuries.

The accident occurred around 5.30 p.m. on Tuesday. “The workers had been digging near the existing wall to construct a new compound wall. The existing wall collapsed on top of them after its base became weak,” said Coimbatore City Police Commissioner V. Balakrishnan.

The police said the contractor had dug to a depth of six feet, close to the existing wall, for the construction of the new one. This had affected the stability of the existing wall, especially after rain. The injured worker and the bodies of the deceased were shifted to the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital.

The Fire and Rescue Services received a call at 5.45 p.m. Around 20 fire brigades from the Kovaipudur and Coimbatore South fire stations rushed to the spot, where residents of the locality had started rescue efforts. “Four men were trapped under the debris of the collapsed wall. They were dead by the time we pulled them out. The one person we managed to rescue had a leg stuck under the debris,” said R. Ramachandran, a fire station worker.

A team led by District Fire Officer P. Annadurai, Assistant District Fire Officer P. Alagarsamy and Coimbatore South fire station officer P. Sivaraj coordinated the rescue operation. A hydraulic jack and an earthmover were used to remove the debris.