Kolkata warehouse roof collapse: Death toll rises to 16, rescue operations still continuing

Kolkata, June 27 (IANS) The death toll in the collapse of an under-construction warehouse at Taratala on the southern outskirts of Kolkata has risen to 16, the Kolkata Police confirmed on Saturday, even as rescue operations entered the third day.

Till Friday night the death count following the mishap was 15 and the figure increased to 16 as one more person, who was under treatment, succumbed to his injuries.

Right now, 14 other people are still under treatment at the state-run S.S.K.M Medical College & Hospital in South Kolkata and the condition of a couple of them is still critical.

Three days have passed since the mishap took place and the rescue operations, though at the terminal stage, were continuing on Saturday morning.

The Railways have joined hands with the Indian Army, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) in the rescue operation.

State-of-the-art plasma-cutting and oxy-cutting machines are being brought in to cut iron beams. At the same time sniffer dogs have been deployed to search for survivors and infrared victim locator cameras have also been brought in

Meanwhile, a police complaint has been filed at Taratala Police Station against former Mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and the ex-municipal affairs & urban development minister, Firhad Hakim and two Trinamool Congress Councillors namely Anwar Khan, and Shams Iqbal in the Taratala disaster case by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Mazdoor Cell.

A preliminary probe by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Kolkata Police in the case related to the under-construction warehouse roof collapse at Taratala on Wednesday, has revealed that a combination of two factors — the use of poor-quality construction material and adopting a flawed casting pattern — led to the mishap, which has claimed 16 lives till now.

At the same time, the Kolkata Police said they were unable to ascertain the exact number of workers present at the under-construction warehouse site in Taratala at the time of the collapse, as no attendance record had been maintained by the managers.

According to the police, there was no workers’ register at the warehouse and, therefore, there is no accurate count of how many people might still be trapped under the rubble.

–IANS

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