Chennai, June 30 – The toll of Chennai building collapse on Monday has risen to 17. Police have arrested the owner of a Madurai-based builder in Chennai building collapse case soon after a statement from Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa to act tough on those responsible, reports said.
Four people have been arrested, two of whom – Manoharan and his son Muthu – are said to be the project developers and the other two are engineers. The residential project Trust Heights is being developed by Prime Sristi Housing Pvt Ltd.
The project consisted of two 11-storey blocks – The Belief and The Faith. According to reports, Manoharan and his son Muthu have been charged with culpable homicide amounting to murder.
According to a daily, as Saturday was salary day, workers were waiting at the site. They had taken shelter on the ground floor of the building after it started raining. The daily said a cloudburst pulled down the under-construction building.
Most of the people who were trapped under the debris are said to be construction workers and some might have taken shelter in the building as it was raining at the time of the collapse, people in the area said.
According to Fire Service and police officials 11 people have lost their lives in the under-construction residential building’s collapse on Saturday evening that trapped over 50 people.
Around 20 of the 25 people rescued are alive. The rescue operations continued through Saturday night and are still on, IANS adds. The injured have been admitted in the nearby hospital. Fire Service officials at the site said rescue efforts are at full swing.
Giant steel rod cutters and other equipment have been pressed in to service. Sniffer dogs are at the accident site to locate trapped people. Police have cordoned off the area to ensure rescue work is carried out swiftly. A team from the National Disaster Management Authority has also been pressed into the rescue work.
-INDIA TODAY
