Pregnant woman, mother die as roof of house collapses in Tamil Nadu’s Tuticorin

TUTICORIN: A pregnant woman and her mother died when the roof of their house collapsed in Tamil Nadu’s

Tuticorin

city in the early hours of Tuesday.


The deceased have been identified as M Kaliammal, 47, and her daughter S Kathamma alias Karthika, 21. Kaliammal's husband Muthuraman, who was injured, was rescued from the

debris

of the house by the Tuticorin South police and personnel from the fire and rescue services department. He was sent to hospital.

Muthuraman maintains a public toilet at a vegetable market and collects money for a living.

Karthika, the couple's only daughter, was married to Selvaraj about ten months ago. Last week, she was brought to her parents' home after she became pregnant.

The family lived in an old house in Third Street in

Anna Nagar

. The house had wooden bars for ceiling and had a mud and limestone roof. While the roof had been leaking for some time, they had made a temporary arrangement to prevent mud from falling. The roof was further damaged due to poor maintenance and rain.

Police said that Muthuraman used to go to work around 3am every day. His aged mother, who lives in an adjacent house, went to his house as he did not turn up during his usual time. She was shocked to see the roof of the house collapsed and there was no response from anyone when she called. She alerted neighbours.

The bodies of Karthika and Kaliammal were sent to the Thoothukudi Medical College Hospital for postmortem.

A case of unnatural death was registered.


Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, and Mini Crossword.