The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Boy dies as school wall collapses

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Friday, Dec 08, 2006
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Boy dies as school wall collapses

Staff Reporter

Another student jumps off the roof of a shed, has leg fracture

FATAL FALL: A portion of the compound wall which led to the death of a school boy at Ambattur on Thursday morning. The P.J.Gupta's High School premises is on the backdrop. — Photo:K.Pichumani

CHENNAI : A 14-year-old boy died as a portion of a school compound wall collapsed on him at Venkatapuram in suburban Ambattur on Thursday morning.

Another boy was injured and is undergoing treatment in the Government General Hospital, school authorities and police said.

According to the police, A. Mukundan, Standard IX student at P. J. Gupta's High School, was playing with his friend and classmate R. Osiniraj at 8.15 a.m. on Thursday. As the ball fell on the other side of the compound, Osiniraj scaled that portion of the wall, which was four feet high, with the help of a bicycle to retrieve the ball.

When he stepped on the asbestos roof of a shed nearby, the wall collapsed on Mukundan, who was waiting for his friend. He sustained a head injury and was rushed to the hospital by the school watchman and a few students. But Mukundan was declared dead on arrival and his body was taken to the Kilpauk Medical College Hospital.

Osiniraj, who had jumped off the roof, sustained a leg fracture.

The school authorities said the accident occurred an hour before the school began. While most part of the compound wall was constructed a decade ago, the small portion of the wall that collapsed was not raised following a dispute with a neighbour at Indira Nagar. The resident had built a makeshift shed along the compound wall and used it as a public toilet until a few days ago and objected to the renovation of the compound wall, a schoolteacher alleged.

Ranjini Devi, Chief Educational Officer of Tiruvallur district, said the condition that the school should get a stability certificate related only to the building. P. J. Gupta High School had been issued certificate till 2008, she said. Villivakkam MLA B. Ranganathan said consolation fund would be given to the grieving family.

The Ambattur police are investigating.

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