Amid consistent rainfall in Dehradun, one child died while another was injured when the wall of an under construction building collapsed on a kutcha home at Dangwal Marg, Nashvila Road, Kotwali area in the wee hours on Sunday. The incident occurred when they were sleeping around 2.45 am. The condition of the injured is stated to be out of danger.
The collapse created panic among the local residents. Police were informed about the incident late at night and they later started rescue operation along with local residents.
The deceased has been identified as Deepak Thapa aged 14 years while the injured boy has been identified as Vinod Thapa aged 16 years. Firemen and State disaster response force personnel were pressed in to conduct rescue and relief operation. Residents of the area also provided assistance in the work at the incident site. The personnel also broke a cemented pillar which appeared in a risky condition.
The occupants of the nearby homes were made to vacate their homes temporarily during this activity. The incident site was in such a narrow space that heavy machines like a mechanical excavator could not be brought to the site.
After the wall collapse, the children were lying under the cement beam and debris. Rainfall was on when police were conducting rescue operation at the site. After nearly three hours of hard work, one child was rescued from the debris around 5.35 am while the other was extracted at 6.45 am.
They were admitted at Doon Hospital through the emergency ambulance service. Deepak Thapa was declared brought dead by doctors at Doon Hospital.
Mussoorie MlA Ganesh Joshi, SP city Pradeep Rai, circle officer Chandra Mohan also reached the spot and monitored the rescue and relief operation.
According to police, the mishap occurred after a concrete wall of an under-construction building collapsed on the kutcha house in which three members of the family — Ram Bahadur Thapa, his sons Vinod Thapa and Deepak Thapa were sleeping.
Ram Bahadur Thapa’s wife was reported to be out of the city at the time of the incident. Circle officer Chandra Mohan said concrete wall was made by a house owner Dinesh Bahuguna who is employed at a bank in ludhiana, Punjab. Ram Bahadur Thapa works as a watchman in Dehradun. Post-mortem of the deceased will be done on Monday, added the CO.