10 killed in Chennai building collapse

The death toll in the Chennai building collapse has gone up to 10 while 25 are feared trapped under the debris of an 11-storey under construction building collapsed near suburban Porur on Saturday evening. Rescue work is continuing to extricate those trapped under the debris. The police have detained two directors of the building construction company. So far 27 people have been rescued and the injured are undergoing medical treatment. The incident occurred around 6 pm last evening when the structure collapsed at Moulivakkam, nearly 20 kilometres from Chennai. It was raining heavily at the time. Most of the people who were trapped under the debris are reportedly construction workers from Andhra Pradesh and southern Tamil Nadu. Expressing grief over the incident, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha said, ‘Police have been ordered to take action against those who are responsible for the incident.’ The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority officials said a formal report would be submitted today to the government, which would study if there were any ‘irregularities’ or ‘illegalities’ in granting plan permission for the residential building, according to BSS.