Chennai, May 23: At least 27 people, many of them enjoying a late-evening drink, were crushed to death when a wall collapsed on a bar.

The bar — in Tirupur in Tamil Nadu’s Erode district — is adjacent to a government-owned wine shop.

According to police sources, most of the dead are probably workers of knitwear factories or construction labourers. Tirupur is a major knitwear export centre that attracts hundreds of migrant workers.

Some employees of the wine shop are also believed to have been killed in the collapse.

The five who were injured have been admitted to a government hospital in Tirupur.

The 22-foot wall, dividing the bar and a hosiery factory, was said to be wet after thundershowers lashed the area for nearly an hour, the police said. Some people said a powerful lightning could have caused the collapse.

The wall caved in around 7.45 pm, bringing the bar’s shed crashing down.

Firefighters rushed to the site and began digging the bodies out of the debris with the help of the police and local residents. The rescue operation is still on, and unconfirmed reports said the toll could cross 30.

Many unlicensed bars that have cropped up next to state-owned wine shops have been the target of a PMK campaign. On Sunday, party leader S. Ramadoss wrote to chief minister M. Karunanidhi, saying the government should withdraw from the liquor business, close down the “unauthorised” watering holes and implement prohibition in a phased manner.