Tamil Nadu: 7-year-old boys killed in wall collapse
Lokesh and Vetrikumar were friends who were studying in Class II in a private school in the neighbourhood.
Chennai: Two boys, both aged 7, died after a wall collapse in Thattankulam in Choolai area on Saturday late evening. Pulianthope police identified the victims as Lokesh, son of Ramesh, a daily wage worker and Vetrikumar, son of Senthil Kumar, a labourer.
Lokesh and Vetrikumar were friends who were studying in Class II in a private school in the neighbourhood. They used to play together in holidays and on Saturday evening Vetrikumar went to Lokesh’s house to play.
The two were chatting and clinging to the nylon rope, tied to bamboo poles, used for drying clothes on the empty space on the first floor the building where Lokesh’s family stayed along with three other families.
Police said that Lokesh stays on the first floor of a single storey building. “There is a tiny empty space left at the corner of the floor which is used for drying clothes. The boys were clinging to the rope when the terrace wall collapsed on them,” police noted. .
As they were playing rain started suddenly and the terrace wall, which is around five feet high, collapsed on them. The boys got trapped under the debris. Though the residents rushed them to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, they could not save the kids.
“Lokesh died on the way to the hospital, while Vetrikumar succumbed to injuries in the night. The police have registered a case and further investigation is on.