Karwar, August 5: In what could have been a major tragedy, a hostel building collapsed at Joida in Uttara Kannada district on Saturday afternoon, when there were around 125 students.
The incident occurred within an hour after the students returned from school. The pre-metric hostel is managed by the Department of Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare.
The inmates said that after returning from school, they heard a deafening noise and the building came crashing down. They initially thought it was an earthquake and ran out of the building. Half the hostel building collapsed before their own eyes.
Officials said thought all of the students had run out of the building, two girls -identified as Shubhangi Desai and Tara Savant- collapsed after hearing the noise. They have been shifted to a hospital.
People living in the vicinity of the hostel came to the help of the students.
The local people blamed the officials for inferior quality of work on the building. They said that they had alerted the officials about the poor quality of work on the building and asked them to repair it. The reason for the collapse of the building was rain, the officials said.
The girls, who escaped unhurt, said that had the building collapsed at night there would have been serious causalities. They demanded that the departments of Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare, and Education make alternative arrangements for them.
Senior officials visited the spot and said that the girls would be temporarily shifted to another building.
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