Two killed, 1 critical in Chetpet building collapse

While Raja (26) of Cuddalore, who worked as a surveyor, died on the spot, Gunasekaran (23) of Tiruvarur, a site supervisor, succumbed at Kilpauk Medical College (KMC) hospital a few minutes after he was admitted. Arul, who has been admitted at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital with grievous head injuries is said to be critical. Chetpet police have detained site engineer Meenakshi Nathan and foreman Megharaj and booked them for causing death by negligence.

The incident took place around 4 pm when nearly 50 labourers and 10 technicians were involved in laying work on the second floor of the four-storey structure (basement+ stilt+two floors) on Venugopal avenue off Spurtank Road.

Sources said that the accident could have been caused by a design defect and the pillars column might not have been strong enough to withstand the weight of the floor slabs.

The building is for a proposed restaurant of a popular chain that has branches in Singapore, Malaysia and Australia. VME Precast was the contractor.

The work on the sprawling structure started on February 22 and precast columns and pillars from Vallam near Oragadam were brought to the site. By now, 70 per cent of the work is over and had the mishap not taken place, the entire structure would have been ready in a month. The technicians and labourers had been employed by the sub-contractors of VME Precast.

Soon after the accident, the structure was barricaded and labourers evacuated. Fire and Rescue Department joint director M Shahul Hameed, Additional Commissioner of police MC Sarangan, Joint Commissioner TS Anbu and other senior officials rushed to the spot. NDRF personnel too rushed to join them in the rescue operation. Chennai Collector V Anbuselvan also visited the spot.

Chetpet police registered a case and further investigation is on.