Concrete mix collapse kills 2

CHENNAI: Two contract labourers died and five were injured after a concrete mixture put up to lay the roof of a building for a private aircraft accessory manufacturing facility collapsed at Madras Export Processing Zone (MEPZ), Tambaram, around midnight on Sunday.Police, who arrested three persons, including an engineer and a supervisor in this connection, said that the incident occurred after the iron rods and casuarina poles gave way, unable to withstand the weight of the mix.About 10 lorry loads of concrete mix were laid over iron plates supported by iron rods and casuarina poles to construct the roof of the ground floor and flooring of the first floor of a building at a height of about 18 feet.The building, which was an extension to the main building of the private aircraft spare parts manufacturing company, was covering about 10,000 sq ft and 27 labourers under a private contractor were involved in the work that took place only in the night, police added.Some of them were checking for leaks in between the iron plates around midnight when the incident occurred. Tambaram fire services personnel were called in for rescue operations.While labourer Kadavul (40), of Thiruneermalai Road in Kadaperi, who was rescued by fellow labourers died in the hospital, the body of Chinnaiyan (32), of Villupuram, who was caught in between the heap of concrete mix, iron plates and rods, was recovered only after six hours. “Since he was trapped below the concrete mix and rods and plates, we requisitioned the services of welding workers. Since it was midnight, we could not get them to the spot. They came only by 3 am and it took two hours for them to drill the plates and rods,” said Suryaprakash, Station Fire Officer, Tambaram.Four others — Ramachandran (30), Murthy (35), Murali (35) and Rajamani (40) — sustained minor injuries, while a labourer Sampath (35) of Ganpathipuram, Selaiyur, who suffered head injuries, was admitted to Government GH.Police registered a case under IPC section 304A (causing death by negligence) and arrested supervisor Rizwan (25) of Thondi, Ramanathapuram district, engineer Ganesan (48) of East Tambaram and centering contractor Vinayagam (48) of Kannigapuram.