Nine teenagers killed in roof collapse accident

Nageshwar Patnaik

BHUBANESWAR: In the worst ever incident, at least nine teenagers, mostly rag pickers, were killed when the roof of a half demolished government building collapsed at the posh Unit-8 locality here on Thursday afternoon.

Two boys, who were rescued from under the rubbles, suffered serious injuries. They have been admitted in the Capital Hospital here, deputy commissioner of police, Bhubaneswar, Mr Himansu Lal said.

He, however, refused to hazard a guess as to how many more have been buried under the debris of the collapsed structure.

Eyewitnesses said at least 11 boys were inside the building when the roof caved in at around 2.00 pm. They were all rag pickers who were busy collecting bricks and iron rods from the ruins of the building.

A massive rescue operation was launched as soon as the incident took place with deployment of around 300 rescuers including fire officials, police and members of Orissa Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) who deployed modern equipments like gas cutters, dredgers and excavators to retrieve the people trapped under the debris.

“It is becoming difficult to accelerate the rescue operation as the fallen structures are hanging precariously over one another. We are progressing cautiously clearing the debris inch by inch. I fear it the entire operation may take more than 5 to 6 hours”, deputy fire officer G.G.Patnaik said.

Officials engaged in the operations, however, ruled out any survivors among the trapped people.

The two-storied building was built in the 1960s by the Bhubaneswar municipality to provide cheap accommodation to unemployed educated youths visiting the state capital in search of jobs and bachelor employees of the state government. The bachelor barrack was in a dilapidated condition due to poor maintenance and had no electricity connection till date.