A portion of an old and dilapidated government primary school building in Tangratoli Basti, near Piska Mor in the Sukhdev Nagar police station area of Ranchi, Jharkhand, collapsed unexpectedly on Friday morning. Suresh Baitha died on the spot after being trapped under the debris, while three others sustained serious injuries.
The incident occurred between approximately 7:30 and 8:00 AM. The dilapidated government school building, including the roof, collapsed. Four people were inside the building at the time of the accident. Police and local residents immediately initiated rescue operations and transported the injured to the hospital for treatment. The injured have been identified as Rohit Tirkey, Pritam, and Nitin Tirkey, and their condition is reported to be critical. One of the injured has a broken waist, and another has a broken leg.
Following the incident, residents of Tangratoli Basti, enraged by the event, removed the body of the deceased, Suresh Baitha, from the debris and placed it on the road to protest. They are demanding that the district administration immediately demolish the dilapidated school building entirely to prevent any further accidents in the future. Additionally, the protestors are demanding adequate compensation for the family of the deceased and the injured.
According to local residents, the government school building was declared dilapidated during the COVID period, approximately four to five years ago, and the education of children in it was discontinued. However, local residents often used this dilapidated building to shelter from rain or to rest, and some people even slept in it at night. On Thursday night, four to five people were sleeping in this dilapidated school building when the accident occurred on Friday morning. The villagers demand that adequate compensation be given immediately to the family of the deceased and that the dilapidated school building be completely demolished to prevent further loss of life.