3 students killed, 35 injured in college building collapse

HYDERABAD: Three students were killed and 35 others were injured when a portion of a college building collapsed near here on Saturday.

The parapet wall on the third floor of Narayana residential junior college for boys collapsed in the afternoon, killing three students, the police said. The mishap took place at Changicherla in neighbouring Ranga Reddy district, about 20 km from here.

The wall fell on the students during the lunch-break and some of them were died of drowning after falling into a septic tank. Police fear that some more students might have drowned. Rescue workers were still looking for bodies. The injured were shifted to a private hospital.

"A portion of the three-storeyed college building was still under construction and the heavy rains over last few days might have weakened the wall," an official said.

As news of the mishap spread, anxious parents rushed to the college and were frantically searching for their wards. Some of them raised slogans against the college management and ransacked the office.

Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy directed the education department officials to conduct the probe and submit a report to him at the earliest.