Two women die in wall collapse in Kasimedu

Monsoon showers in the city on Monday killed at least three persons, including two women who died in a building collapse.

In Kasimedu, an under-construction house collapsed due to heavy rains in the wee hours bringing down asbestos roofs of two neighbouring houses and killing two residents besides injuring two others. Elsewhere in Taramani, a young man was electrocuted when he touched a short-circuited lamp post on Taramani-Velachery Road.

The northeast monsoon and Cyclone Nilam together had claimed 65 lives across the State, the government had said during a review meeting early last month. Police said Lilly (75), of 5th Cross Street in Pallavan Nagar, Kasimedu, her daughter Irudhaya Mary (45) and relative Chinnasamy were asleep when the roof came crashing down with the withered bricks of the collapsed wall. The roof of the neighbouring house too collapsed injuring neighbour Chitra (50).

They were admitted to Stanley Medical College Hospital where Lilly succumbed to head injuries. Chitra’s condition worsened and she was shifted to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital where she died later in the day. Chinnasamy and Mary had minor hand injuries and leg fracture respectively.

The police said the supporting walls of the ill-fated house had caved in perhaps because they were wet. They arrested the house owner, but later released him on station bail.

In the other incident, P Mohan (25), of Kallukuttai, a bottled mineral water supplier, touched a lamp post on the Taramani-Velachery Road. He died of severe electric shock, police said.