Man away at funeral, 4 kin die in roof collapse

TIRUCHY: In a tragic start to New Year, the entire family of an auto driver was killed after the roof of their old house at Ariyamangalam in Tiruchy collapsed during the wee hours of Monday.

C Marimuthu (48), an auto driver, was residing with his mother Shanthi (74), wife Vijayalakshmi (45) and daughters, Pradeepa (12) and Harini (10), at a house reportedly built in 1972 at Keezha Ambikapuram near Ariyamangalam in Tiruchy.

The house was in a dilapidated condition and the family was planning to renovate it ahead of Pongal. However, tragedy struck before the date of plan on New Year day itself.

On Sunday, Marimuthu had gone to Chennai to attend the funeral of his brother-in-law, while the other members of the family stayed back in the house.

Early on Monday, while they were fast asleep, the roof of the house suddenly collapsed and fell on the four inmates, who were crushed to death on the spot. As the neighbours were also asleep, they did not hear the thud of the collapse.

They noticed nothing wrong as the walls of the house stood strong as usual. However, around 7 am, a neighbour woman, who happened to notice the roof collapse from her house, immediately alerted the Ariyamangalam police.

Soon, a team, led by inspector Thiruvanandam, rushed to the spot. They informed Fire and Rescue personnel, who reached the spot and retrieved the all the four bodies, which were sent to Tiruchy government hospital.

Hearing the news, Marimuthu rushed from Chennai straight to the government hospital and received the bodies of the four family members. Ariyamangalam police have registered a case and further investigations are on.