32-year-old, unstable hotel building collapses in Kadapa district

Anantapur: Nearly half portion of a 32-year-old hotel building collapsed on Friday, causing injuries to two women, in the heart of Kadapa district headquarters.

Customers and workers escaped unhurt as they left the building immediately after debris began falling near the kitchen portion of the two-storied building.

Sources said Nagendra, a native of Udipi in Karnataka, was running the hotel named Sujatha Udipi Hotel and had taken the building on lease since 1984 at Seven Roads Junction in Kadapa. Official sources said the hotel had been functioning in the same old building without much renovation.

About five workers were working in the kitchen, when they noticed the debris and ran away. Similarly, workers residing on the first floor of the hotel building, jumped off the floor after the roof suddenly fell down.

Two women workers Chowdamma, 55, and K. Parvathi, 56, were stuck in the debris and later rescued by the Fire crew. They were shifted to RIMS hospital at Kadapa and doctors said they were out of danger but suffered injuries in the mishap. Kadapa OSD Satya Esubabu rushed to the spot and led the rescue operations.

Fire officials concluded that the mishap occurred due to heat from kitchen portion and also digging of a nearby site. “The incident happened because the building was very old also exposed regularly to heat,” the official said.