A 12-year-old boy was killed and two more children were injured when a wall collapsed on them at Bawali More, near Budge Budge, on the southern fringes of the city, on Sunday morning.

All three were rushed to a local hospital, where Sheikh Sabir was pronounced dead.

Zulfikar, 11, who fractured his right hand and leg, was transferred to SSKM Hospital as his condition deteriorated. Phulmoni, 10, is being treated at the local hospital.

Neighbours said the mishap occurred around 9.30 am, when the children were playing near a building under construction.

“The building is being constructed for quite some time and the children of our locality play there in the mornings and afternoons,” said Kanai Santra, who lives next to Sabir’s house.

On Sunday morning, he recalled, “we heard a loud thud and rushed to the spot to see the trio trapped beneath the debris of the boundary wall of the building”.

Helped by a team from Nodakhali police station, the residents extricated the three and took them to the local hospital in a hired car.

According to Santra, the wall gave in after a part of the balcony of the house came loose and fell on it.

A Nodakhali police station officer said they were looking for the owner of the building. “According to rules, a barricade has to be erected around a building under construction to prevent any mishap. But in this case, there was none,” said the officer.

Sabir was the youngest child of his parents. His father is a mason.

Uncle Sheikh Javed said the family would approach the owner of the building for compensation. “My nephew died only because of the owner’s negligence,” he said.

Superintendent of police (South 24-Parganas) S.N. Gupta said the officer-in-charge of Nodakhali police station has been asked to probe the incident and find out the owner of the building. A police picket has been posted in the neighbourhood.