FACTORY ROOF COLLAPSE
Ludhiana: Two days after the lintel of a factory collapsed in Daba, killing four persons, one more worker—who was injured seriously—has succumbed at a city hospital. The deceased has been identified as Santosh Kumar.
The district administration said after the death of Santosh, who underwent a surgery at a private hospital near Sherpur Chowk, the toll has reached five.
Joint commissioner of police (rural) Sachin Gupta said of the 40 persons who were inside, five have died and 35 were rescued. He said one of the rescued persons was undergoing treatment at a private hospital.
Deputy commissioner Varinder Sharma said there were no more workers trapped now and the debris’ removal was almost over. He added that he and the commissioner of police would visit the spot before taking the final call on ending the operation.
National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) officials said they have cleared the debris up to first floor by cutting the lintel to pieces and they didn’t find anyone trapped. They said State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), municipal corporation and civil department teams were also involved in the work and the DC would take the decision to call off the operation.
On Monday morning, the building had caved in at Baba Mukand Singh Nagar of Daba when workers were lifting the roof using jacks. Police had registered a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against factory owner Jaswinder Singh of Dashmesh Nagar and contractor Mohammad Haroon of Bihar.
Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh had ordered a magisterial probe into the circumstances leading to the roof collapse.
The other four who died were Mustakeen, Sagar Kumar, both residents of Bihar, Peechu and Imtiaz of Ludhiana.