Express News Service
CHENNAI: TWO children playing in front of their house at Aminjikarai in the city were killed on Thursday after the compound wall of the house suddenly collapsed on them. A tree had grown through the wall.
Four-year-old F Musthan and seven-year-old A Dayan were cousins who lived in the same house on a narrow street at Kakkan Bazaar. Eyewitnesses said that the children were playing in front of their house around 4 pm when the compound wall suddenly collapsed on them causing severe head injuries. The neighbours managed to rescue Dayan and sent him to the Kilpauk Medical College Hospital. However, doctors there declared the child dead on arrival.
By the time the neighbours pulled Musthan out from under the debris she had already died. Her family refused to hand over the body to the police. The body was kept at their home for visitors to pay their respects.
Neighbours said that the house belonged to one A Anwar Basha. Basha’s three sons lived at the house with their families. The three sons — Zafar, Feroz and Ansar — reportedly run meat shops at various locations around Aminjikarai.
The house’s foundation is raised three feet above the ground and the large tree had grown in such a way as to divide the wall. The neighbours said that they had warned the family that the compound wall might be dangerous.
“I warned their fathers many times about the wall. It was slightly tilted and a big tree was also growing there. But they never listened,” said Nazeer, a distant relative of the family.
Dayan, Feroz’s son, was studying in Class 3 and had come home from school just a while earlier. Musthan, Ansar’s daughter, has a twin sister, Farnaz, who escaped the mishap as she had gone off to use the toilet.
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