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Building collapse in Delhi’s Bapa Nagar leaves behind broken families

Two brothers, Mujeeb and Mukeem, died, leaving behind Muheem, their 22-year-old brother, to take care of the ageing parents in Rampur

Updated on: Sep 19, 2024, 06:00:10 IST
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NEW DELHI

Four were killed and 14 injured in the building collapse. (Vipin Kumar/HT Photo)
Four were killed and 14 injured in the building collapse. (Vipin Kumar/HT Photo)

The 12-year-old boy who died in the building collapse at Bapa Nagar on Wednesday morning was visiting his relatives who were staying in the building, his family said. The boy, Aman Khan, came to Delhi two weeks ago on a vacation and was staying in Seelampur but wanted to visit his relatives in Bapa Nagar, family members said.

“He was only here to spend some time with the family. He was not working here. He planned to go back home in a few days,” said Aman’s cousin Mohammed Usman Khan, 32, a resident of Seelampur

On Wednesday morning, a five-storeyed building collapsed after heavy downpour in central Delhi’s Bapa Nagar, leaving four dead and 14 injured. The deceased were identified as Mohammed Mujeeb, 18, his brother Mohammed Mukeem, 25, Aman Khan, 12, and Mohsin Khan, 26, all from Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur.

Usman said Aman was staying with another cousin Mohammed Owais, who also suffered injuries in the incident.

Aman is survived by his mother and his eight-year-old sister. “Aman lost his father in 2016. His mother earns for her two kids and hoped that Aman would eventually help her. We haven’t even told her he is no more,” Usman said on Wednesday afternoon.

The incident also left another family broken as siblings Mujeeb and Mukeem died, leaving behind Muheem, their 22-year-old brother, to take care of their elderly parents in Rampur.

Muheem, speaking at RML Hospital, said the brothers had been staying in Bapa Nagar for three months. “We all worked at factories running inside houses. I work at another place and my brothers worked here,” he said.

Survivors of the incident said the ground and first floor were empty, and around 15 residents were working on the second third and fourth floors during the collapse. “Most were sleeping and some stepped out for tea and breakfast. Suddenly, the building collapsed and we all went under debris. We couldn’t realise what happened for a few seconds,” said Owais, an injured person.

The impact of the building collapse was such that a wall of the adjacent two-storey building also collapsed and fell on its residents, injuring two women and a four-year-old boy. They were identified as Kavita Tomar, her sister-in-law Jyoti Tomar and Jyoti’s son Aarav. Jyoti lost her husband last year and his parents had passed a few years ago.

At RML, Kavita, who sustained a head injury, said that she was injured while saving Aarav. “We were all sleeping when it happened. Our relatives eventually came and saved us all,” she said.

Jyoti said their house was also dilapidated and they asked the owner to either repair it or return the security deposit.

  • Hemani Bhandari
    ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    Hemani Bhandari

    Hemani Bhandari is a Special Correspondent with Hindustan Times in New Delhi, where she reports on crime, policing, governance and social issues. With over a decade of experience in journalism, she specialises in combining on-ground reporting with evidence-based storytelling to examine the human impact of public policy, law enforcement and urban governance. Over the years, she has reported extensively on major developments in the capital, including crime investigations, civic challenges, protests, and issues affecting vulnerable communities. As a Special Correspondent, she focuses on producing exclusive investigations, enterprise stories and long-form features that go beyond daily news cycles. She has a keen interest in using public records, official data and field reporting to uncover systemic issues and present complex subjects in an accessible manner. A graduate of the Asian College of Journalism, Hemani believes in rigorous, ethical and evidence-based reporting. She is passionate about investigative journalism and continuously seeks to expand her skills in data journalism, open-source investigations and digital reporting techniques.Read More