Apartments collapse in Patna, no casualty

Residents of an double storeyed apartment block had a miraculous escape when it collapsed amid heavy downpour.

A few residents of an under-construction double storeyed apartment block had a miraculous escape when it collapsed amid heavy downpour in Patna on Thursday night, police said.

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The 'C' block of 'Vaishnavi apartment' on Boring Road had 16 flats, only four of which was occupied.

The construction crumbled like a house of cards around 11.30 pm, minutes after the alert members of the few families, had vacated it, Superintendent of Police (city) Vikas Vaibhav said.

While the few residents vacated from the semi-constructed building, people moved away from the vicinity of the apartment as it came crumbling down and there was no report of any casualty.

The SP said a police team raided the house of Sharma in the Buddha Colony locality of the state capital but he gave police the slip.

His parked jeep has been seized.

One of the flat owners KK Sinha, an advocate of the Patna High Court, told this correspondent at the spot that the pillars of the building began sinking around 6.30 in the evening and by 8.30 pm, the residents noticed that the pillars had gone deeper into the soft soil.

A couple of hours later, as the residents decided to keep awake through the night, the walls and floors of the building developed cracks and barely had they walked out of it the structure came crumbling down.

"Our decision to stay awake saved us. Or call it providence. Had the building not shown signs of collapse much in advance or had it come down late in the night many of us would not not have been here speaking to you," he said.

A police team has been pressed into service to clear the rubble.