7 dead in Delhi building collapse

20 others have been injured as a 4-storey building under construction collapses in northeast Delhi on Saturday morning.

At least seven people were killed and 20 injured when a four-storey building under construction collapsed in northeast Delhi on Saturday morning.

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Early Saturday afternoon, four to five people were still feared trapped under the rubble, while 27 victims had been pulled out.

The house being built for the past four months in Brahmapuri area of new Usmanpur collapsed at around 7.30 am due to "shoddy construction material", the police said.

According to neighbours, over 30 labourers who were living in the building were trapped under the rubble.

Eight fire tenders, hydraulic machines, cranes, trucks and tractors were used for the rescue work. Disaster management experts from civil defence forces joined the rescuers.

Hundreds of locals also helped the rescue workers pull out 27 people from under the rubble. The injured were rushed to Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital, where seven people succumbed to their injuries. One of the victims was 11 years old.

"The building collapsed due to shoddy material used in the construction work," said Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northeast Delhi) Rajiv Ranjan.

In an effort to control the crowd around the site, the police deployed anti-riot personnel complete with water cannons.