The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Injured persons ‘disappear’; search on

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Injured persons ‘disappear’; search on

M. Raghuram

We are on the look-out for eyewitnesses and the injured persons, say police

BANGALORE: Mystery shrouds the sudden disappearance of injured persons and construction workers at the Shantiniketan building site, and the Kadugodi police have launched a search for them.

A 15-storeyed concrete structure of a Prestige group project collapsed here on Thursday in which four were injured.

“We are searching for the eyewitnesses and injured persons. We need them to record their statements.

“But since 5.30 p.m. we are looking for them. No representative of the builder is cooperating with us,” said the sleuths of the Kadugodi police station.

“Immediately after the incident, we learnt that the officials of the building shifted the workers and injured persons to another place.

“We also sent our staff to Vydehi Hospital to enquire about the injured persons. But we were told that the injured persons were treated as out-patients and discharged,” a police officer told The Hindu.

“We suspect that they shifted them so that they are not questioned by the police or the media in connection with the incident, and that no information is leaked out to the police or media,” he said.

According to the officer, there were 18 persons working on the ground-floor.

They were inspecting electrical works and installing some equipment. Around 4.50 p.m., a slab of the 15th floor of the building started collapsing on the 14th floor with a thud. Three women, who were collecting waste material near the ground-floor, noticed this and alerted the others working on that floor.

Suddenly, all of them started running away from the spot. In the melee, four persons fell on construction material and were injured.

They are the eyewitnesses. “First, we have to question those women, because their presence of mind saved many lives.

“We have to record their statements too,” said the officer. The incident resulted in chaos in the area. The residents in the surrounding area, who were shocked, gathered there in large numbers to know what had happened.

“For me, it took sometime to realise what had happened,” said B. Shalini, a school employee. “I had come to the Corporation Bank ATM near Hope Farm. When I was returning, I saw many cars and motorcycles parked on the road. I was curious and I too parked my scooter. A slab of the third floor collapsed when I reached the spot. I heard that within an hour part of that building had turned into debris,” she said.

In the recent past

Bangalore Staff Reporter writes:

September 28, 2008 — The centring of a building still under construction on M.G. Road collapsed killing one and injuring seven.

December 17, 2007: Seven people were killed and 14 injured when the balcony on the fourth floor of a building on Sweepers Street in Bharathinagar collapsed.

November 22, 2007: Two persons were killed in a building collapse near the NIMHANS complex.

July 26, 2008: A two-year-old child was killed and four persons were injured when a portion of a two-storeyed building near Koramangala collapsed.

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