One person died while around 40-50 are feared trapped after a building, which was a boys’ PG, collapsed in south Delhi’s Satya Niketan area on Sunday afternoon, officials said. Rescue teams were working at the site, while the injured people were taken to AIIMS Delhi for treatment, they added.
Witnesses also helped with the rescue operation, clearing the rubble by hand and using whatever equipment was available to search for those trapped beneath. Police said they do not yet have the exact number of people who could be trapped or injured. Follow live updates related to the building collapse here.
‘Felt like an earthquake’: Witnesses describe moment building collapsed
An eyewitness said the collapse was preceded by a sound that reminded him of an earthquake, after which people trapped inside began shouting, “save us”.
“We were sitting inside it when we suddenly heard a sound—like the rumble of an earthquake. We rushed out immediately; there was a lot of smoke and dust here. The entire building had collapsed,” he told news agency ANI.
“Sounds are still coming from within the rubble - children crying out, ‘Save us, save us!’... There are at least 25–30 children,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}“Sounds are still coming from within the rubble - children crying out, ‘Save us, save us!’... There are at least 25–30 children,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}Another witness told news agency PTI that the building began shaking in a way that made people believe an earthquake had struck.
“The entire building shook as if it were at the epicentre of a major earthquake. We genuinely thought an earthquake had struck,” he said.
‘Buildings standing like dominoes’
The witness, who spoke to PTI, said another PG in the area was also at risk of collapse, as buildings there are “standing like dominoes, if one goes down, others could follow”.
“Students travel from far away, and it is tragic that they are losing their lives due to faulty infrastructure," he added.
Around 50-60 students inside: Student tells HT
Garv Vashist, a 22-year-old DU student waiting outside the AIIMS trauma centre for his friend, said there were around 50 to 60 students in the building.
"It was Sunday and was raining, so mostly all were inside. I rushed to the building, but after half an hour of failed attempts to locate my friend, I came to the hospital. All we know is that there are four people inside the trauma centre, but not sure if my friend is inside,” Vashist told HT.
‘There was no one to help’, NSUI alleges
Vinod Jakhar, President of the National Students' Union of India, the student wing of the Congress party, told ANI that there was no one to assist the students trapped inside when he reached the PG after learning that one of his NSUI colleagues was stuck there.
“We happened to be nearby when we received a call from an NSUI colleague saying that a fellow worker was trapped inside. A colleague of ours lived in that PG, and by the time we arrived, the entire building had collapsed... There was no one there to help, no police, no administration, no medical facilities, and no fire brigade... We started to clear the debris and rescue the students,” he said.
What Delhi CM said on incident
Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta said several agencies were involved in the rescue operation and assured the affected families of immediate assistance.
"Deeply concerned by the building collapse incident at Satya Niketan, RK Puram," Gupta said in a post on X.
Teams from the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Delhi Fire Services, Delhi Police, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Centralised Accident and Trauma Services (CATS) and Civil Defence are carrying out the rescue operation, she said.
(With inputs from Gargi Shukla, Hemani Bhandari and agencies)