Five persons were crushed to death and more than 10 persons injured when the roof of a bus stand at Somanur in Coimbatore rural collapsed on Thursday afternoon.
A police officer at the scene of accident hinted that poor construction quality of the bus stand and inadequate maintenance could have led to the incident as the structure was built 13 years ago in 2004.
The deceased have been identified as Sivakumar, 35, a native of Thirumangalam in Madurai; Dharani, 20, a third-year degree student from Ichipatti; Thulasi, 40, a resident of Kulathupalayam near Somanur; Eswari, 35, from Ayyampalayam near Somanur; and an unknown man aged around 65.
While Thulasi succumbed to injuries at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH), four others were either killed on the spot or on their way to the hospital.
Six injured namely Vijaya, 35; Murali, 45; Anandakumar, 43; Rajaram, 32; Shanmugam, 49; and Leema Rose, 70, were admitted to the CMCH. Other injured, Latha, 20; Valarmathi, 45; Ayyavu, 82; Kamalam, 62; and Mallappagoundar, 90, were admitted to a private hospital.
After visiting the injured at CMCH, District collector T.N. Hariharan said that arrangements have been made to shift the injured persons from private hospital to the Government hospital. Hospital authorities said that Vijaya and Murali are in a critical condition.
According to the police, the incident happened around 1.15 p.m. More than 20 persons were trapped under the roof that collapsed unexpectedly, also damaging the front portion of a TNSTC bus parked there.
“The incident happened when I was standing inside the bus stand talking with Sivakumar. The 50-odd-feet-long roof slowly collapsed from one end to another, trapping several persons under it. While I managed to escape, Sivakumar ran in the wrong direction in panic and got trapped inside. He died soon after he was extricated from the debris,” P. Mohanraj, a TNSTC conductor from Tirunelveli, recalled the accident. He said that Sivakumar was conductor of a TNSTC bus operating on the Somanur–Tirupur route.