A labourer was killed and five others are in hospital after a scaffold broke and fell from the 14th floor of a building under construction on Raja SC Mullick Road, in Jadavpur, on Thursday morning.

Prema Das, 28, succumbed to his injuries at Peerless Hospital. The injured are fighting for life at MR Bangur Hospital.

On Thursday, the labourers were standing on the scaffold, plastering the building walls. Around 11 am, the scaffold caved in, falling on the asbestos roof of an adjacent house. While the other labourers jumped to safety, Das fell from a height of 120 feet.

Part of the scaffold, along with iron pieces and bricks, fell on the labourers standing on the ground below. Mongol Oraon, 29, and four others sustained head injuries.

The six were rushed to MR Bangur Hospital. Later, Das’ condition deteriorated and he was shifted to Peerless Hospital. He died in the evening. Das’ brother and co-worker Rajkumar said they hailed from Murshidabad. Their daily wage was Rs 60.

“The project manager and two others have been held in this connection,” said Sumanjit Roy, deputy superintendent of police (town).

The residents on the top floor of the adjacent three-storeyed building had a narrow escape. The broken scaffold pierced the asbestos roof and smashed into three rooms.

Shipra Samanta, a tenant, was in the bedroom with her one-and-a-half-month-old son and two-year-old daughter. “Suddenly, I heard a deafening noise and saw our roof collapse. An iron rod fell a few inches away,” she recalled.

Senior officers of Calcutta Municipal Corporation rushed to the spot. A stop-work notice was slapped and an inquiry ordered.

However, the promoters have decided not to halt work. P.P. Tiwari, an official of the developers’ firm, said there were no anomalies and “work will continue in the project”.

Engineers of Shapoorji Palanji and Company, engaged in the construction, said the scaffold collapse was an accident.

“The scaffold is attached to a column with couplings. A coupling may have been stolen or somebody pushed the scaffold without realising the act could cost a life,” asserted general manager P. Dasgupta.