Chawri Bazar building collapse: What injured victims recall

A wooden log supporting the concrete slab being laid on the third floor broke around 9

A wooden log supporting the concrete slab being laid on the third floor broke around 9.30am on Thursday as at least five labourers manually carried construction material in mortar pans from the ground floor to the top floor, passing them along a human chain on the staircase, according to statements given by two survivors of the Chawri Bazar building collapse.

Search and rescue operations entered their second day on Friday and continued until late evening, an officer said (HT)

The log’s failure disturbed the balance of the other supporting wooden logs, which also gave way, causing the lintel – a horizontal concrete structural beam -- to collapse first, followed by the entire structure, said three people aware of the statements given by the survivors, Sahdev Chaudhary, 25, and Mohammad Firoz, 37. Both are undergoing treatment in the intensive care unit (ICU) of Lok Nayak Hospital.

Chaudhary and Firoz were among nearly 18 labourers working at the under-construction three-storey building when it collapsed. At least 11 managed to rush out in time, while Chaudhary, Firoz and two others — Kishori, 40, and Sanjeet, 45 — were pulled out of the debris by locals and rescue teams from the fire department, police and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) by Thursday. Kishori and Sanjeet were dead by the time they were rescued.

One of the three people said the survivors told investigators they were daily-wage workers employed by a contractor named Sahud Mohammad, earning ₹700 a day each as unskilled labourers. They arrived at the site around 8.30am and began work.

“Firoz said he, along with Chaudhary, Sanjeet, Kishori and another worker named Shintu, was carrying concrete mixture from the ground to the third floor. They had formed a human chain on the staircase, passing mortar pans containing the mixture to each other. Shintu was on the third floor and Sanjeet was passing the pans to him after receiving them from Chaudhary. Chaudhary was getting the pans from Firoz and the latter from Kishori, who was last in the chain,” the person said.

According to the second person, Chaudhary told investigators that Shintu and Sanjeet were the first to notice the wooden log breaking and raised an alarm. Before the labourers could react, the other supporting logs also gave way and the lintel collapsed.

Chaudhary said Sanjeet asked him, Firoz and Kishori to run out and save themselves. Firoz rushed to the first floor and jumped out of the building. As he landed in the lane, some debris fell on him, injuring his right ankle, shoulder, hands and face.

“Firoz said he fell unconscious and was rescued by locals. He was admitted to Lok Nayak Hospital. The condition of Firoz and Chaudhary is out of danger and stable. However, they are still in shock,” the second person added.

Firoz spoke to his wife and four children using a hospital staff member’s mobile phone and told them he was fine. He is missing his family, who are in their village in Madhepura, and has been insisting on being discharged so he can return home, the third person said.

Chaudhary, meanwhile, sneaked out of the hospital after being admitted and returned to the collapse site to look for his mobile phone and other belongings. He was spotted there and brought back to the hospital in the evening, the three people said.

Chaudhary, Kishori, Sanjeet and at least eight other labourers, all from Bihar’s Khagaria and Madhepura districts, were to leave for their hometowns by train on Thursday night to celebrate Diwali and Chhath with their families.

They had planned to finish their last day of work at the Chawri Bazar site by late afternoon, return to their rented accommodation in east Delhi’s Mandawali and then head to Anand Vihar railway station to board the Jan Sadharan Express, scheduled to depart at 11.45pm, the third person said, quoting Chaudhary.

Raja Kumar, whose 40-year-old uncle Bipin Ram is among the four missing labourers, also said the workers were supposed to travel to Bihar by train on Thursday.

“I last spoke to my uncle around 5.30am on Thursday. He told me to meet him at Mandawali in the evening so we could proceed to the railway station. Around 11.30am, another surviving labourer, Deepak, told me about the building collapse. I have been at the scene since Thursday afternoon, hoping to see my uncle alive,” Kumar said.