Two die, several injured as under-construction building collapses

HYDERABAD: Two persons died and several others were injured when a building under construction collapsed at Pragathi Nagar in Kukatpally here on Saturday afternoon. When the mishap occurred a handful of labourers were working in the five-storey building. All but the two workers escaped with injuries. As the concrete came crashing down, tension built up in the area. For some time no one knew how many people were trapped under the debris.

The mishap occurred when roof walls on the fourth and fifth floors suddenly caved in, bringing the structure down. The locals called the police while simultaneously trying to rescue those trapped underneath the rubble.

The fire service, Disaster Response Force and the police searched for those stuck underneath the debris for hours. They then found the bodies of two labourers who were identified as Anand Kumar, 25 and Daya Shankar, 27. They were unlucky to come directly under the heavy concrete that crashed on them.
The Disaster Response Force rescued several workers who were trapped under the rubble and suffered injuries.

Laxma Reddy, the husband of the building owner, Patlori Padmaja,  was among those injured. They are now under treatment at a hospital. Police suspect that the building came down due to the poor quality of the construction material. The police have decided to press negligence charges against the owner and the site engineer.