Four of family killed, one injured as house collapses in Kanpur

Four members of a family were killed and a teenage girl seriously injured after their kutcha house collapsed amid rain in Kanpur’s Hirni village on Sunday. Police, fire personnel and locals rescued the trapped family members, while the cause of the collapse is being investigated

Kanpur (UP): Four members of a family were killed and another seriously injured after their house collapsed amid rain in Hirni village here on Sunday, police said. The front portion of the ‘kutcha’ house was completely damaged, while a room-like structure in the rear portion was partially damaged, they said.

Commissioner of Police Raghubir Lal told PTI that all five family members were trapped under the debris when the house collapsed around 11 am. Police, fire brigade personnel and locals rescued them and took them to the Community Health Centre (CHC) at Patara, where four were declared dead.

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Three fire tenders equipped with rescue equipment and a mobile disaster response vehicle were deployed at the spot. The exact cause of the collapse is being investigated, Lal told PTI. The victims were identified as Mukesh Kumar and his daughters Maya (17), Neetu (7) and Pallavi (5). Kumar’s third daughter Kajal was seriously injured and is undergoing treatment at Lala Lajpat Rai Hospital (LLR) in Kanpur, they said.

Kumar’s cousin Tej Bahadur Singh alleged police negligence, claiming the family repeatedly called the Saadh police after the collapse, but their calls were initially not answered.

He said villagers had to begin the rescue operation themselves and worked for nearly two hours to pull the trapped family members out. The family also alleged that treatment at the Patara CHC was delayed as no doctor was available when the victims were brought there. They demanded an impartial inquiry into the alleged lapses and action against those responsible. According to the family, Kajal alias Laxmi was due to get married in December.