Bengaluru: Wife of labourer who died in wall collapse injured

While the city slept blissfully during the pounding rain on Friday night, the downpour brought destruction to the family of a daily wage labourer.

A wall tumbled over a shed at Balaji Layout in Vidyapeetha ward where the labourer, Mahantesh, was sleeping and crushed him to death. His wife Parvathi and her brother were also injured in the accident.

The 30-year-old man was the main breadwinner of his family. It was just a year ago that he had married Parvathi (22), who has sustained injuries and is undergoing treatment at Victoria Hospital.

"It was pouring heavily last night. Our work was disrupted as the rain started in the evening. But never in our wildest dreams did we think that the rain would actually trigger a major tragedy," Parvathi said.

"We hail from Kalaburagi. It has been more than a year since we came to Bengaluru in search of work. We are here since about a month now," she said.

Her brother Gautham was the first to witness the incident. She said Gautham used to sleep near the office area of the under-construction site.

"The wall tumbled over the shed and we did not know what to do. We lay suffocating as the rain kept falling," she said.

Parvathi is diagnosed with blunt trauma abdomen at the Emergency Trauma Centre of Victoria Hospital. Some toxic water is said to have accumulated in her abdomen, besides injuries to her head and legs. Parvathi's older brother Sharanappa and his wife Shobha, injured in the accident, were discharged after treatment. Doctors were not available for comments on Parvathi's condition.

Ramesh Babu, a friend of Mahantesh’s family, said most of the relatives who came to console the family members left after the postmortem and other rituals.

"For a woman who had dreams for her family's future, she is made to undergo a tough time. She is extremely shocked," said Babu.

With no roof above their heads, Parvathi and her brother's family are now depending on their relatives for shelter.