At least seven people, including a child, were killed when a retaining wall of an under-construction apartment collapsed on migrant workers’ accommodation on Tuesday night in Bachupally of Hyderabad, said the police. All were migrant workers. Seven others are undergoing treatment at a hospital, they added.
The police were alerted by local residents about the wall collapse that took place at Renuka Yellamma colony around 5.30 pm, an hour after heavy rains started pouring down. The rescue operation started at 10.30 pm and lasted until 4 am. The seven bodies recovered by early Wednesday morning from under the debris were shifted to Gandhi Hospital for postmortem examination. “Their families have been informed,” an officer said.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (Kukatpally) K Srinivas Rao said the five-storeyed apartment was located at a higher level, and the huts were at a lower level. “The builder constructed a retaining wall of 30 to 40 feet in height just two days ago. The drainage pipelines were not yet set up, and there was no way for the rainwater to flow. Due to the water pressure, the wall collapsed onto the sheds,” he told indianexpress.com.
“All the deceased are migrant workers. Three of them had come here only two days ago, and the others had been living there for two months now,” the ACP added.
The police said they were filing a case under Section 304-II (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code against Venkanna Arvind Reddy of Rize Builders.
The deceased were identified as Ram Yadav, 34; wife Geeta, 32, and their son Himanshu, 4; all from Chhattisgarh; Thirupathi Maji, 20; Shanker, 22; Raju Yadav, 34; and his wife Khushi, all natives of Odisha.
Udal Yadav, one of the workers who had a narrow escape, said, “I was in the room and had just gone nearby when the wall collapsed. My wife, son and daughter, who came from Kanasda village to see Hyderabad for their vacations, were also stuck in the muck and rescued. Others who died were resting in the room.”
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“Ram Yadav, his wife and son had arrived here for work only two days ago. Their 12-year-old elder son, who is physically challenged, is back in their village, Navpara, in the Janjgir Chapa district of Chattisgarh. He was working as a Mason,” Ram’s cousin Nand Kishore Yadav, who also works in Hyderabad, told indianexpress.com. He said their makeshift accommodation was hardly 10 feet away from the wall. Of the 12 rooms, 10 were buried under soil, he said.
Among the injured, five are men, and two are women. They hail from West Bengal, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha. One of them is in ICU, the police said.
After several weeks of heatwave in Telangana, heavy downpour on Tuesday night threw life out of gear in Hyderabad. Waterlogging in low-lying areas and heavy traffic snarls were reported all across the city. Localities such as Serilingampally and Kukatpally recorded 13 cm and 11 cm rainfall in a very short span. Hyderabad, Rangareddy, and Medchal Malkajgiri districts recorded an average cumulative rainfall of 2 to 3 cm.
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