Three students die as Tirunelveli school restroom wall collapses

TIRUNELVELI: Three male

students

of a government-aided

school

in Tamil Nadu’s

Tirunelveli

city were crushed to death and four others suffered injuries when a wall of a restroom collapsed on Friday morning.


The incident happened at Schaffter Higher Secondary School on the S N High Road around 11. The deceased have been identified as K Anbalagan (Class IX) of Narasinganallur, T Viswaranjan (Class VIII) of Thatchanallur and R Sudeesh (Class VI).

The Tirunelveli junction police arrested correspondent of the school R P J Selvakumar, headmistress B V Persis Gnanaselvi and contractor John Kennedy, who built the wall that collapsed, holding them responsible for the tragedy. They were booked under section 304(ii) (causing death of any person by doing any rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide) of the Indian Penal Code.

Preliminary inquiries revealed that the wall did not have a foundation and could have weakened due to recent rain.

According to a statement issued by the district administration, the incident took place during the 11 am interval when students rushed to the restroom. The front wall of the bathroom that covered the inner area collapsed. Bodies of three boys were retrieved and sent to the Tirunelveli Medical College and Hospital for postmortem.

Four other boys, who were injured, were rushed to the same hospital. The injured have been identified as S Sanjay (Class VIII) of Thatchanallur, M Isakki Prakash (Class IX) of Tirunelveli Town, Siekh Aboobakar Kithani (Class XII) of Vagaikulam and Abdullah (Class VII).

Hospital dean M Ravichandran said that the condition of those under treatment was stable.

Expressing condolences to the kin of the three deceased boys, chief minister M K Stalin announced a solatium of Rs 10 lakh each for the kin of the three deceased students. The CM announced Rs 3 lakh for the four injured boys.

There was unrest in the school as the panicked students ran out. The furious students damaged flowerpots and windowpanes.

They told reporters that the builder and those responsible for faulty construction should be arrested. The school was closed for the rest of the day and the other students were sent home.

Anxious parents of the students thronged the school as news about the wall collapse and deaths of the students were circulated in social media.

Fire and rescue services personnel cordoned off the accident site to avert injuries to students.

Tirunelveli city police commissioner N K Senthamarai Kannan said their focus was on safeguarding the students. “Based on the outcome of the inquiry on how the accident happened, action will be taken against those who are responsible for it,” he told reporters.

District collector V Vishnu visited the students undergoing treatment and inquired them about their health and the incident. Tirunelveli MLA Nainar Nagendran visited the school and told reporters that the wall did not have a foundation. He also visited the hospital and consoled the kin of the deceased and inquired about the condition of the injured students who are undergoing treatment.

The school education department instructed the Tirunelveli chief education officer to conduct an inquiry and submit a report.

Kin of the deceased staged a demonstration at the TVMCH, refusing to receive the bodies till the accused were arrested and putting forward other demands. After several rounds of talks, the efforts taken by assembly speaker M Appavu, transport minister R S Rajakannappan and district collector V Vishnu yielded results as kin of Anbalagan received the body.

The management of the school announced that the school will remain closed till December 26.