Chennai building collapse: Death toll mounts to 9, rescue operations to take 2 ... - Times of India

CHENNAI: Rescue operation at the building collapse site in Chennai would take at least two more days to complete even as the death toll rose to nine and nineteen people were rescued from the debris by Sunday morning.

At 10am on Sunday, fire and rescue personnel and around 200 personnel from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were clearing the debris of the ninth floor of the 12-storey building at Moulivakkam.

The building collapsed on Saturday evening.

The victims were killed after a portion of a 12-storey building under construction at Moulivakkam in Chennai collapsed in heavy rain at around 5pm on Saturday.

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"Various agencies are working on moving the bigger rubble so that teams from the National Disaster Response Force can enter and look for those trapped inside," deputy commissioner R S Sudhakar, said.

Police officials said rescue operations were being hampered by the narrow lane leading to the rubble.

Rescue operations at the site of the ghastly building collapse (TOI photo by Karthikeyan Hemalatha)

Ten teams of the NDRF are participating in the rescue operations with advanced equipment to detect trapped people.

Vijay Shekar, joint director of Tamil Nadu fire and rescue services, north region, told TOI that it would take at least two days to clear the debris and reach the ground floor.

"This is going to be a massive operation. We will get a clear idea of the number of people died in the accident only when we reach the gro und floor," he said. He said the building collapsed from the centre.

Families affected by the collapse (TOI photo by Karthikeyan Hemalatha)

Meanwhile, the dog force was pressed into service to recover dead bodies and find rescuers. He said there was a strong chance of finding more people alive.

Chennai city police registered a case under the Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC and arrested the building owner, Manoharan, and his son Muthu. They were taken into custody and were being questioned.

Media at the accident site (TOI photo by Karthikeyan Hemalatha)

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