A 60-year-old woman died when the concrete staircase she was climbing, collapsed on her at Pulianthope on Wednesday.
Police said Prema (60), wife of a late government employee from Ammaiammal Street, Pulianthope, who was living in a rented house along with her three sons, had climbed the stairs to go to the terrace when it collapsed on her as she reached the second floor of the two storey building.
Police said the woman had gone to the terrace at around 6 am on Wednesday to wake up one her sons with a cup of tea, as he got drunk the previous night. Neighbours heard the loud bang and rushed to rescue the woman. They found her under the debris and rushed her to the hospital where she was declared dead.
Police said they conducted an inquiry with the house owner Rani (55), and found that Prema and her sons were asked to vacate the house as it was very old and was in a dilapidated condition. But the family reportedly continued to stay.
In another incident on Tuesday at Thirumangalam, Soundarya (14), a class nine student, was talking to her parents in the terrace in the second floor. She was sitting on the parapet wall in the terrace when she slipped and fell down. She was rushed to a private hospital where she was declared dead.