A five-storey commercial building has collapsed in the south of India’s capital, New Delhi. The accident happened on Saturday evening on Western Marg in the Saidulajab area near Saket Metro station. The building housed a coaching institute, several cafes and offices, and construction was under way on its upper portion, the local administration said.
A police officer said 12 people had been rescued alive so far, two of them seriously injured. There did not appear to be anyone else trapped in the rubble at the moment, though a search was continuing to be sure.
Witnesses said screams could be heard from under the rubble after the collapse, and that clouds of dust spread all around in an instant. Part of the building fell onto an adjacent temporary tin-shed canteen where students were eating.
The fire department said locals and police rescued three people before it reached the scene. Firefighters and members of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) then began a joint rescue operation.
Balwant Yadav, the father of one injured student, said his daughter Neelam was in the canteen next to the building. More than 100 students were there when it collapsed. Neelam’s leg was broken and she is under treatment in hospital.
Heavy machinery, hydraulic cutters, special cameras and trained search dogs are being used in the rescue, with fire, NDRF, police and local administration members working at the scene. Police said that once the operation is over, the building’s ownership, construction permits and whether there was any negligence will be investigated.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report