Nine of family killed in wall collapse

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, JUNE 12. Nine members of a family, including three women and three children, were buried alive when a retaining wall behind an apartment block coming up on Road No. 12 of Banjara Hills collapsed on their house on Tuesday morning.

The builder of the apartments, Mr. Surinder Agarwal, was later in the day arrested by the police under Section 304A. This was the second such instance in the Banjara Hills area. During last year's deluge on August 24, six persons were killed in a similar mishap on Road No. 4.

The 30-ft granite-stoned wall collapsed onto the house belonging to Salima Sultan, 40, who perished in the rubble. She is the wife of Ghayasuddin, a taxi driver. The dead family members were her two sons - Ayaz Hussein, 25, and Syed Afroz, 23 - her daughter, Talat Naaz, 22.

The others were Aliya Naaz, 24, wife of her nephew Younus, their three kids - Noman Ahmed, 6, Ozam Ahmed, 5, and Mehru Shahnaz, 3. Another victim was one of their relatives, Mazhar, 23, a resident of Ahmednagar, who had come on a visit and had stayed overnight.

His brother, Mazher, 23, however, had a miraculous escape. Younus also escaped without any injury. ``I had stepped out to answer a nature's call and the house collapsed on my wife and kids,'' he sobbed.

The mishap occurred at around 6.30 a.m. in the Bholanagar slum beneath the road when the victims were all fast asleep. ``The entire neighbourhood was yet to get active when we heard a loud noise and cries of people. By the time we rushed to help, they were dead,'' said Mohd. Shareef, auto driver, residing in the area.

The Home Minister, Mr. T. Devender Goud, who visited the site accompanied by his ministerial colleague, Mr. C. Krishna Yadav, the district Collector, Mr. Rajeshwar Tiwari, and the Police Commissioner, Mr. P. Ramulu, announced an ex-gratia of Rs. 1 lakh each to the kin of the bereaved family members.

The TDP general secretary, Mr. Lal Jan Pasha, MIM MLAs - Messrs Asaduddin Owaisi and Syed Sajjad - too rushed to the place and helped in shifting the bodies to Osmania General Hospital.

The Police Commissioner has accepted the demand of the relatives not to undertake post-mortem of the bodies.

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Section  : Southern States
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