KOLKATA: A portion of a house on Rabindra Sarani came crashing down on the road below on Saturday, killing two two-wheeler riders. Two others were rescued from under heaps of debris and hospitalized with serious injuries. All the residents—25-30 families live in the sprawling building located on 25 bighas of land—were evacuated to safety. Merely 10 days ago, an elderly woman and her granddaughter had died when their dilapidated house at Ahiritola, situated less than 1.5km from Saturday’s site, had collapsed.
A large section of a hanging balcony on the top floor of the four-storey old building on Rabindra Sarani opposite Vishuddhananda Hospital came tumbling down at 5.10 pm following a heavy spell of rain in the area. As the chunks of concrete fell on the bikers below, one died on the spot, while the other succumbed to his injuries in hospital. “We received a call at PTS at 5.16pm and reached in 25 minutes, along with firemen. We removed the debris in 10-12 minutes. The impact of the collapse from such a height was severe. There were fewer people on road due to the rain,” said a police officer.
The biker who died on the spot was Rajib Gupta (47), a resident of Dum Dum. “He was riding past the building, when a large portion of the balcony crushed him. By the time he could be rescued by the disaster management group of the Kolkata Police and fire brigade, 35 minutes had passed. He was declared dead at Vishuddhananda Hospital,” said DC (Central) Rupesh Kumar. The other victim, Md Toufiq (20), was a resident of Beniapukur. He was riding a scooter when the concrete slab fell on him. He was first taken to Vishuddhananda and later shifted to Medical College and Hospital, where he died in a few hours.
Pradip Das (39) from Nimta and Subhas Hazra (32) from Saora in Goghat, who were walking by, were trapped under the debris. They were rescued and admitted to MCH. A fifth person, a DMG officer said, escaped miraculously with mere scratches.
Police, with the help of locals, managed to evacuate five residents, who were trapped inside the building, to safety. A KMC buildings department team reached the spot and helped the other tenants out. While local ward coordinator Reita Chowdhury claimed the building had not been declared insecure, a buildings department official said portions were vulnerable. “KMC engineers will inspect the building on Sunday and decide whether it is fit to live in or should be demolished,” Chowdhury said.
The collapse led to a roadblock on Rabindra Sarani as vehicles had to be rerouted on Chaturthi. “It took over two hours to restore some amount of normalcy,” an officer said.
.png?w=600)
