Coimbatore : Seventeen persons, including, women and children, were buried alive after a compound wall collapsed on a row of houses in Nadur Village, some 50 Kms from here in the early hours of Monday.

The district collector, K Rajanani, who along with the SP, Sujit Kumar, visited the spot, told reporters that the villagers were blaming the construction of the 15-foot tall compound wall for the incident and if found illegal it will be razed to the ground.

All the 17 deceased were in deep sleep, when the wall fell on the tile-roofed houses, which caved in in the early hours Rajamani said adding that postmortem was going on at the Mettupalayam Government Hospital.

The fire and rescue services personnel , with assistance of locals and police retrieve the bodies from all the debris.

The administration will review the matter to prevent such incidents in future, as suggested by the villagers and will send a detailed report to the Government for follow up action, including providing relief measures, Rajamani said.

He also said that the facility at the Mettupalayam government hospital will be ungraded so that there was no necessity for the locals to come down to Coimbatore.

Chief Minister, K Palanisamy has announced a solatium of Rs.four lakh to the bereaved families from the Disaster Relief fund.