TIRUCHY: A woman died and two others including a minor girl sustained injuries after the roof of a temple mandapam collapsed in Samayapuram in Tiruchy in the early hours of Sunday.
The deceased was identified as M Nathiya (32) from Thiruvaiyaru in Thanjavur district. The injured were S Ranjani (35) from Thanjavur and her daughter S Paviksha (14).
According to police sources, a group of devotees, including Nathiya, Ranjani and Paviksha, were on a padayatra to the Samayapuram temple ahead of the fourth week of the Poochorithal festival on Sunday.
They reached the temple in the early hours of Sunday and slept in an RCC mandapam on Sannidhi Street in Samayapuram. Subsequently, a part of the ceiling of the mandapam unexpectedly came off on them by 1 am. In this, Nathiya died on the spot, while Ranjani and Paviksha sustained serious injuries.
Upon receiving the information, the Samayapuram police and officials rushed to the spot, rescued the injured persons, and admitted them to the Tiruchy MGMGH. The body of the deceased was sent to the same hospital for autopsy.
Police registered a case and continued probing to determine when the mandapam was built and assess its structural stability.