Bengaluru: Seven people, including two children, were killed and seven others injured when the compound wall of the city’s Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital collapsed due to heavy rains here on Wednesday, the police said.
When heavy rains, coupled with strong winds and a hailstorm, battered the area, victims taking shelter near a wall were trapped when it suddenly collapsed. Seven people were killed on the spot.
Police and emergency services personnel rushed to the spot with an earthmover to bring out the bodies and the injured from the debris with the help of other citizens.
Learning about the incident, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah visited the spot along with the Greater Bengaluru Authority chief commissioner M Maheshwar Rao and Bengaluru police commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh to take stock of the situation.
Siddaramaiah took the GBA officials to task for the tragedy.
Briefing reporters after the spot inspection, the Chief Minister said, “Seven people have died. Out of them, two are children. Seven people are injured. All of them are stable.
They are all out of danger. I have told the doctors to provide treatment free of cost.”
“Rs 5 lakh solatium will be given to the kin of each deceased. Because, unfortunately, those who died are very poor people – traders, street vendors,” he added.
Siddaramaiah said an inquiry will be conducted to find out why the wall collapsed.
“We will conduct an inquiry to see whether the engineers are at fault. If they are found responsible, action will be taken against them immediately,” he said.
According to the CM, there was civil work going on inside the compound wall. The contractor was dumping soil against the compound wall.
He said that due to the pressure of soil dumped against it, the wall might have collapsed.
“Prima facie, it appears to have fallen due to that pressure. So I have asked the engineers – the Executive Engineer and Assistant Executive Engineer – whether they had checked if it had become weak or not,” Siddaramaiah said.
No one knew there would be heavy and untimely rains, the CM said, adding that these were pre-monsoon rains.
