Two dead as under-repair 4-storey building collapses in south Delhi

Teams of National Disaster Response Force, the fire department and the local police launched a rescue operation that continued for over three hours.

Two labourers died and four sustained injuries when a four-storey building where construction work was going on collapsed on Monday afternoon in south Delhi’s Satya Niketan area on Monday afternoon.

Rescue operations underway at Satya Niketan, on Monday. (Amal KS/HT)

Teams of National Disaster Response Force, the fire department and the local police launched a rescue operation that continued for over three hours. They rescued six people who were trapped under the debris, two of whom died of their injuries at the hospital.

Deputy commissioner of police (south west) Manoj C said that the police control room was informed at 1.25pm at South Campus police station about the collapse of an under-construction building. “A worker who had stepped out minutes before the collapse told us about people being trapped inside the debris. Accordingly, other agencies were also alerted,” the DCP said.

Delhi Fire Services (DFS) chief Atul Garg said that six fire tenders were pressed into service to rescue those trapped in the debris.

Police identified the victims as Naseem, 35, and Bilal ,40, and the four injured persons as Mushahid, 19, Sarfaraz, 25, Mohammed Firdaus (age not known) and Aslam, 17. The injured were admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. All six hailed from Bihar’s Araria district, police said.

Local residents said work on the ground floor was going on at the building for over a month, and the concrete roof of the floors above collapsed to one side, trapping those working there.

Chandni Singh, who runs a beauty salon opposite the building, said that the structure collapsed around 1.10pm, describing the impact as that of an earthquake. “The sound was so loud and the impact of the building collapse was such that I thought there was an earthquake. When I stepped outside, there was dust all around and nothing was visible. A few minutes later, when the dust settled down, we saw that the building had collapsed. Earlier, the building was owned by one of my friend’s father, but they have shifted from the area. The renovation and construction work here was going on for over a month and a half,” she said.

She also alleged that the builder had not installed any measures to curb dust pollution at the site. “About a month ago, I had asked the labourers and contractors to cover the area because it was becoming difficult for residents to breathe. They only installed a green net,” she said.

Delhi Police, Central Reserve Police Force, DFS and NDRF undertook the rescue operation. Using chipping hammers - a drill like equipment - and cutters through the huge concrete slab, the NDRF cut a hole in the collapsed structure and started looking for survivors. “We could hear them from inside calling for help. We carefully cut the slab, otherwise it could have collapsed on the survivors, killing them. Members of the dog squad were also deployed to sniff the presence of survivors.

“It took us less than an hour to cut the piece and remove debris from that particular area,” said an NDRF official at the spot.

While the NDRF was piercing through the cement slab, one of the injured climbed up the tilted cement slab from inside and reached the top on his own. The officials climbed up using ropes and rescued the labourer at 3:59pm with the crowd cheering and clapping. As the drilling concluded, another labourer was pulled out at 4:21pm and the operation concluded at 4:47pm when the fifth labourer was rescued.

They were all rushed to AIIMS for treatment where Bilal and Naseem were declared dead.

South Delhi Municipal Corporation mayor Mukesh Suryan who reached the spot said that a notice was issued to the building’s owner on March 31, stating that the alterations being made to the building were dangerous. He also claimed that the police were also informed about it. A senior police officer, however, said that the corporation should have followed up to check if illegal construction was still going on after they sent a notice to the building owner.

DCP Manoj said an FIR has been registered under relevant sections of the IPC.

Local residents said they suspect the extensions were being made in the building to create space for rooms to be rented to students since it is close to the south campus.