More than 46 bodies have been recovered  so far ,from the 11 storied building in suburban Porur in Chennai which collapsed on Wednesday. Out of the 42 deceased, 28 were men and the rest were women. A total of 69 persons had been pulled out dead or alive from under the debris of the collapsed structure by rescue personnel since Saturday when the mishap occurred, he said. It is feared that there could be more than 20 to 25 people still trapped under the debris as rescue efforts are still going on even after a week of the collapse.  Most of the workers were from neighbouring State of Andhra Pradesh and a few were from other northern States.The Andhra Pradesh State Lanour Minister had also come to Chennai and enquired about the workers trapped inside and the measures being taken to help the injured and resuce operations.

The reason for  collapse is yet to be ascertained ,but it is said that a weak foundation was the cause of the building to collapse and whether the builders had the soil conditions of the area tested before construction would be known only after a detailed enquiry. Most of the dead workers were from Andhra Pradesh and other northern states who had come to work at the building site.Meanwhile Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had visited the injured labourers in the hospital and directed officials to initiate  legal proceedings against those responsible.