Two workers killed in wall collapse at Pollachi

COIMBATORE: Two persons including a woman worker from West Bengal were killed in a wall collapse at a grove in Gengampalayam, near Pollachi, on Saturday afternoon.

The deceased were V Muruganantham (42), who runs a coir unit at Gengampalayam, and G Mematasingh (38) of West Bengal. The injured are M Revathy (35), wife of Muruganantham, and West Bengal natives B Onambika Singh (20) and S Rabindra Singh (45).

A 20-foot high wall made of hollow blocks collapsed and fell over them at 12.30 pm when they were cleaning the ground.

Ten members of two families from West Bengal have been residing in the grove for the last three years. The collapsed wall was that of an old poultry farm in the grove.

The wall gave in as Muruganantham, his wife Revathy and other workers removed the roof tiles and the wooden angle bolstering the rafters from the wall. The wall was soaked in the heavy rain in the last week.

Locals rescued Muruganantham and others. Muruganantham got first aid at a private hospital and was referred to a private hospital in Coimbatore. However, he died on the way. Mematasingh was taken to Pollachi government hospital where she was declared dead.