32-year-old woman dies after portion of house collapses in Delhi's Uttam Nagar

Police said construction and renovation work was being carried out by a couple who had recently purchased the building.

A 32-year-old woman was killed and her five-year-old daughter suffered injuries after the rear portion of a three-storey building at Hastsal Vihar near Uttam Nagar in southwest Delhi that they were living in, collapsed on Friday evening, said police, adding that some construction and renovation work was being carried out by a couple who had recently purchased the building.

During the rescue operation on Friday. (HT)

According to police, the ceilings of the building were constructed using iron girders and stone slabs. While removing the girders on the upper floors, the rear portion of the structure collapsed.

Police said the woman, identified by her single name Poonam, and her daughter, Navya (single name) were present on the ground floor of the building when the portion collapsed, trapping them under the debris.

The mother-daughter duo was rescued by Delhi Fire Services and other concerned agencies. They were rushed to Deen Dayal Upadhyaya (DDU) hospital, where the woman succumbed to her injuries. The daughter’s condition was stated to be stable and out of danger.

Deputy commissioner of police (DCP) (Dwarka) Ankit Singh said that between 3.07 pm and 3.21 pm, three calls were received at the Uttam Nagar police station regarding a building collapse at a residential neighbourhood in Hastsal Vihar.

“The caller informed the police that several people, including a woman and her daughter, were trapped under the debris. A police team rushed to the building collapse site, where five fire tenders with rescue teams also arrived. Teams from other agencies, including the national disaster response force (NDRF), disaster management authority, and electricity department also arrived and launched the search and rescue operation. The mother and her daughter were rescued after nearly two hours,” said DCP Singh.

DCP Singh said that during investigation, it was revealed that the building, constructed on a 48-square yard plot, was recently purchased by a woman named Sonu Yadav from Neeraj Kumar, 36, husband of Poonam.

“On Friday afternoon, Sonu Yadav and her husband, Pradeep Yadav were removing the girder, when the building partially collapsed. Teams are still checking the debris to find out if anyone else is trapped under the debris. We have registered a case and are probing into it,” said DCP Singh.

This is the second such incident that the city witnessed since Friday. On Thursday evening, a 60-year-old man died while four others sustained injuries after a portion of a basement collapsed on them at a house in southwest Delhi’s Safdarjung Enclave area. Police said the victims were construction workers who were setting up the basement of the house when the soil slipped and a portion of the structure fell.