Man killed as under-construction building collapses in Thyagarajanagar

BENGALURU : A 23-year-old labourer died after a three-storey, underconstruction building collapsed near Sai Baba Temple on 1st Cross, Thyagarajanagar, around 5pm Saturday. Police and fire service personnel took over five hours to pull out Suhail’s body from the debris.


The building, on a 26ft x 55ft site, was almost ready and electrical work was being done. Preliminary investigation showed that the building collapsed due to excavation work on an adjacent vacant site.




According to police, digging at the vacant site was on for the past two days and this damaged the foundation of the building. Kartik, a developer who had undertaken the digging, had brought three labourers to repair the damaged foundation. When the building started to tilt to one side, two labourers escaped. Suhail, who was carrying out electrical works in the building, got stuck. Police registered a case against the vacant site owner and developer Karthik. Both are absconding.


BBMP’s joint commissioner (South) Vishwanath said, “We filed an FIR against the land owner who had undertaken earth excavation. The cops have taken one person into custody while the bigger problem is to ensure the safety of the building towards which this building has tilted. On Sunday, we’ll demolish the tilted building to ensure it doesn’t damage adjacent buildings. As a precautionary measure, we have ordered evacuation of these buildings.”


A fire safety official said: “There were around 15 persons residing in neighbouring building which was also damaged. As an precautionary measure, we have asked everyone to move out of their houses until the damaged building is demolished.”