Kolkata, June 26 (IANS) The death toll in the under-construction warehouse roof collapse at Taratala in the southern outskirts of Kolkata has risen to 15, said police on Friday, who released the information on the deaths and the injured in the mishap.

In the list of 15 deceased persons as provided by the city police, 13 persons have been identified; the bodies of two other males have been declared as unknown.

The last person to have died was Mannu Kumar, a 19-year-old youth hailing from Munger in Bihar. He was under treatment at the state-run S.S.K.M Medical College & Hospital in South Kolkata after being rescued from under the debris. However, he died this morning, confirmed an official of the city police.

All the 15 persons who have been declared dead in the matter are male.

Meanwhile, the city police have released a list of 18 individuals who are currently receiving treatment at S.S.K.M. hospital. Among the injured, 17 are male, and one is female. According to a city police officer, the condition of two of the injured individuals is critical.

Meanwhile, a preliminary investigation by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Kolkata Police on the under-construction warehouse roof collapse at Taratala on Wednesday has revealed that a combination of two factors — the use of poor quality construction material and adopting a flawed casting pattern — prompted that mishap, which has already claimed 15 lives.

On Thursday, the Kolkata Police said they were unable to ascertain the exact number of workers present at the under-construction warehouse in Taratala at the time of the collapse, as no attendance record had been maintained by the managers.

According to the police, there was no workers’ register at the warehouse and, therefore, there is no accurate count of how many people might still be trapped under the rubble.

On Thursday, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari informed the West Bengal Assembly that the said construction was sanctioned by the former Mayor of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and ex-West Bengal Municipal Affairs and Urban Development Minister, Firhad Hakim.

According to CM Adhikari, the sanction for the construction plan of the warehouse was granted on January 17 and bore the signatures of Hakim and the concerned KMC engineers who examined the plan.

–IANS

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