Mangalore: Four of family dead as compound wall collapses on house
Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore
Mangalore, Jun 18: The heavy rains lashing the district over the past few days resulted in a tragedy that claimed four lives on Tuesday June 18 morning.
Four persons of a family were killed when a compound wall collapsed on their house due to the rains.
The deceased have been identified as Sundari (60), Sundar (62), Baby (50) and Chaitra (13).
The incident occured at Thottilugundi under Bajpe limits.
It is said that the house belonged to Shekhar. Another house was also damaged in the incident.
The neighbours said that when the wall collapsed on the two houses, a girl who was staying there rushed out and alerted the neighbours, who immediately began to rescue those who were inside. Altogether, nine persons were in living in one house while another person identified as Shekar stayed in the other house. While four died, the locals rescued the others, who sustained injuries. The rescue work was difficult as three sides of the house had collapsed completely, they said.
The injured have been identified as Ashwitha (14), Ashwini (18), Asha (38), Veena (50), Ashwath (11), Shambhavi (12) and Shekhar (48). They have been admitted to a hospital. The deceased Chaitra had visited the house on the previous day and slept there overnight.
Sources said that the compound wall was of commercial complex situated at a higher level. The neighbours had reportedly complained earlier about the dangers posed by the wall, as it did not have an outlet for rainwater resulting in its weakening and consequent collapse. Also, mud had been used to fill the gap between the wall and building.
The neighbours said that they had previously given written complaints to the DC as well as to the panchayat urging them not to allow the construction of the wall. The owners of the building claimed that they had obtained permission from the panchayat, while the panchayat members said that they had not given permission.
Home minister K J George along with ministers Abhaychandra Jain and Ramanath Rai, and DC N Prakash arrived at the spot.
K J George said that an ex-gratia compensation of Rs 1.5 lac will be given to the kin of the family of the deceased, and more will be done to help the families affected. The injured and their families have been asked to shift temporarily to the second floor of the panchayat building which is currently lying vacant, he added.
He also said that a probe will be ordered to find out whether the commercial complex was illegal or not, and appropriate action will be taken based on the findings. The home minister further said that steps will be taken to shift the 18 families living in the neighbourhood to a 12-cent land.
MP Nalin Kumar Kateel also visited the spot.
The bodies were shifted to Bajpe primary health centre for postmortem.
Bajpe police have registered a case.