Gurugram: Two crushed to death by wall collapse at school

Two people were crushed to death on Friday after a 10-foot-high dilapidated wall of a private school in DLF Phase-2 collapsed on them, police said, adding that it is likely the wall fell due to heavy rain

Two people were crushed to death on Friday after a 10-foot-high dilapidated wall of a private school in DLF Phase-2 collapsed on them, police said, adding that it is likely the wall fell due to heavy rain.

The school building was undergoing renovation and strengthening work when the wall collapsed on Friday. (HT)

The deceased were identified as Dayanand, 45, and Suraj, 35, both natives of Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut district.

Police said the school management had hired a nursery owner from Shahjahanpur for landscaping and plantation work at the premises. The owner sent the two men to the school on Friday morning.

The incident occurred between 2pm and 2.30pm while they were carrying out beautification work, police said.

A senior police officer said the three-storey school building was being renovated and strengthened. “Extension work was also underway for the last few months to increase capacity,” he said.

The officer added that 10-inch-thick brick outer walls were being demolished systematically. “The two workers had come inside the building to take shelter as rain intensified, when an 8-10-foot portion of an outer wall collapsed on them. It had probably weakened and become damp due to continuous rain,” the officer said.

Aman Kumar, an eyewitness and a worker at the site, said that four of them were sitting along the wall when it collapsed. “I was the first one to see it tilting. I immediately raised an alarm. One of our colleagues managed to get up quickly and run away. However, before Dayanand and Suraj could get up, the wall collapsed and crushed them. We had sat along the same wall multiple times since the morning whenever it rained heavily while working,” he said.

Sandeep Turan, public relations officer of Gurugram Police, said the bodies were kept at the government mortuary and would be handed over to families after autopsy on Saturday. “Suraj’s family has reached Gurugram. The other victim’s parents are yet to arrive. If they allege negligence, an FIR will be registered against the contractor and school authorities,” he said.

Suraj’s father, Parmanand, told HT he had spoken to his son hours before the incident. “By 4pm, I got a call from police that my son had died. He has two minor daughters,” he said.

Dayanand is survived by a minor son, police said.