Four-storey building under renovation crashes in Armenian Street …
An old four-storey building under renovation collapsed in the busy and congested Armenian Street near Parry's Corner here on Wednesday, injuring at least two persons. At the time of filing this report, at 9.30 p.m., the operations were under way to clear the debris and the police said no human fatalities were reported. It was not confirmed whether any construction workers were trapped underneath the debris.
Those around the site, however, said they had seen a few migrant workers busy at the site when the building came down. The police said two persons, identified as M. Arasu, of Mookar Nallamuthu Street, and N.
Parthiban, of Pidariyar Koil Street at Broadway, who were in the vicinity of the 60-year-old building, were injured. They were admitted to the Government Stanley Hospital. The incident happened in one of the busiest parts of the city, raising questions about the lack of safety measures while contractors/owners undertake building renovation.
In January, a woman was killed when the compound wall of a building under demolition at Thousand Lights on Anna Salai collapsed.
A building at Mooker Nallamuthu street in #Chennai[1] collapsed on Wednesday. ?: B. Jothi Ramalingam / The Hindu pic.twitter.com/JiKSCfxCoO[2]
-- The Hindu - Chennai (@THChennai) April 19, 2023[3]According to eyewitnesses, the old building, which was covered with iron scaffolding and green cloth, suddenly collapsed with a huge sound in the busy street housing hundreds of small offices, shops and banks, around 10.30 a.m. when the construction workers were renovating it.
Those around ran helter-skelter as huge concrete debris crashed and filled a major portion of the road. A few two-wheelers and autorickshaws, which were parked near the building, were caught under the debris. The Esplanade police, along with Fire and Rescue Services personnel, reached the site within a few minutes but the narrow access-ways of the surrounding streets filled with vehicles and heavy traffic acted as a hindrance to bringing the rescue equipment to the site.
Senior officials of the Greater Chennai Corporation, the city police, the Fire and Rescue Services and the State Disaster Management Authority reached the site to coordinate the rescue operations. Personnel from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), with special equipment and a dog squad, also arrived afternoon, on a request from the State government. Corporation Commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi, along with senior police officers led by Additional Commissioner of Police (North) T.S.
Anbu, were present at the spot to oversee and speed up the work. Ministers K.N. Nehru and P.K.
Sekarbabu, along with Mayor R. Priya and Deputy Mayor Mahesh Kumar, inspected the operations. Mr.
Mahesh Kumar told The Hindu that the renovation of the building was carried out without permission from the Corporation. He said the civic body would file a case against the owners of the building for being instrumental in causing this accident. In a press release, the NDRF said a battalion from the Regional Response Centre, Chennai, along with canine/technical support from 4th Battalion in Arakkonam, was involved in the rescue operations.
The NDRF team was coordinating with the rescue teams of the State government.
The round-the-clock control room of the NDRF in Arakkonam is monitoring the situation and efforts are being made to safeguard the victims, if any, the release added.
The civic body has pressed into service 15 heavy trucks, six debris removal machines, two excavators and a crane.
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- ^ #Chennai (twitter.com)
- ^ pic.twitter.com/JiKSCfxCoO (t.co)
- ^ April 19, 2023 (twitter.com)
- ^ Email (www.thehindu.com)