A dosa brunch for three persons at a popular eatery in Bistupur, Jamshedpur, on Tuesday morning ended with them getting admitted to Tata Main Hospital (TMH) when a portion of the ceiling of the restaurant collapsed on them.
Gamharia boy Shivam Kumar (17) and Adityapur residents Shubham Tiwary (22) and Reena Pandey (21) were injured when the ceiling of Aashirwad, a multi-cuisine eatery mainly known for its South Indian snacks on J Road, a branch of Bistupur Main Road, caved in around 11.50am.
Fortunately, the restaurant was not packed. Only eight persons were inside when the mishap took place.
As Aashirwad is barely 350 meters from Bistupur police station, within minutes a team rushed to the eatery and rescued the three stuck inside to take them to TMH, about 1km away from the spot.
Though Shivam, Shubham and Reena were traumatised and bruised, medical investigations declared them as stable and oriented. Reena was released in the evening.
Rishu Dubey (17), eyewitness to the mishap, said he and his friends Shivam and Mahesh Rao, all students of Central Public School in Adityapur had come to hang out in Bistupur and have dosas.
"We've just been served by the staff when we heard a loud noise of something cracking in one corner," Rishu said from TMH, where he had gone to see the injured Shivam. "Everyone rushed out and so did we, but Shivam got trapped in the rubble and dust inside," said Rishu, who also suffered bruises in his left hand in the incident.
As J Road has popular eateries such as Anand and Madrasi Hotel, shopping complexes and other outlets and is the approach road to Jamshedpur Women's College, DSP traffic Vivekananda Thakur diverted traffic for nearly 30 minutes to enable the safe rescue of the victims inside the eatery.
Bistupur police station officer-in-charge Anuj Kumar told The Telegraph said they were yet to file to file a case against eatery owner Kripa Shankar.
"Prima facie, it appears to be an accident. We brought in people from the fire services department who inspected the eatery and ruled out any electrical or fire hazard. We sealed the building and deputed guards to ensure no one enters it. We will take steps against the eatery's management only after a thorough investigation," OC Kumar said.
Eatery owner Shanker, who also rushed to TMH, said he would bear the medical expenses of the injured.
"It is a nearly four-decades old eatery and we were carrying out repairs of walls. We had not plastered the ceiling and had plans to repair it too. Unfortunately, before we could do so, this mishap happened," he added.
Should all eateries be subjected to building safety inspections? Tell ttkhand@abpmail.com
