MADURAI: Three people, including a child, died after a rain-choked sunshade slab of a house collapsed in Valayankulam near Perungudi on Monday night.
The incident reportedly occurred around 8:30 p.m. when a 65-year-old woman, Ammapillai, was sitting with her 10-year-old grandson, Veeramani, and her 55-year-old neighbor, V. Venkadammal, in front of her house on Muthalamman Street.
Due to light rain in the locality over the past few days, the sunshade slab had reportedly become waterlogged, leading to its collapse.
Owing to a power cut in the area at the time, it took some time for locals to discover the accident.
All three were immediately pulled from the debris and rushed to Valayankulam Government Hospital for treatment. However, Venkadammal was declared dead by doctors.
Veeramani and Ammapillai were later transferred to Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) for further treatment, but both succumbed to their injuries late that night. The bodies of the three victims were kept at GRH for post-mortem.
The Madurai Rural Police have launched an investigation. Notably, Madurai district experienced moderate rainfall on Monday, recording an average of 12.5 mm on Sunday and 2.68 mm on Saturday.