Three persons were killed when a fifty year old lodge building near Thampanoor bus station collapsed here on Monday evening.

Two more succumbed to their injuries on Tuesday morning. Thomas, hailing from Neyattinkara Thozhukal, Johnson from Dhanuvachapuram and Ravi from Kanyakumari were the deceased. Sureshkumar, Assistant Commissioner, Control Room, will head the investigations.

A section of the Udupi Srinivas lodge, near Hotel Chaitram in Thampanoor collapsed while maintenance works were going on in the back portion of the building.

The collapsed portion is near the main gate of the five-storey building.

The people trapped are all labourers from North India, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Two people have been saved so far. One of them has been identified as Sisupalan, a native of Marayam near here. He has been shifted to Medical College hospital. The other saved, Unni has been taken to the General hospital, Thiruvananthapuram. His condition is said to be serious and he has reportedly lost three fingers.

Meanwhile, rescue operations led by police and fireforce are on. However, the rescue works are hampered by the narrow space which makes it difficult to use JCB that could speed up the process. The Mayor and District Collector have reached the spot ro lead the rescue operations.

People have been asked to keep distance from the area as the reamining portion of the building pose great danger.

The building is fifty years old.

The building collapsed reportedly after the pillars and the walls of the ground floor were demolished to create a spacious restaurant as part of the renovation.

The roof of the ground floor was supported only with GI pipes and this might have led to the collapse, the police said.

The police and Fire and Rescue Services personnel who rushed to the spot around 3.40 p.m. rescued one person from the second floor and evacuated the cine-goers from the adjacent cinemas. The remaining portion of the building was declared ‘unsafe.’

The rescue team was unable to move amid cutters, earthmovers and heavy equipment. Besides, the front portion of the building was on the verge of collapse and the entry to the complex was narrow. Ministers, legislators and top police officers are supervising the rescue work.