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Monday, Feb 04, 2008
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6 killed in hotel building collapse

Manas Dasgupta

Rescue operations in progress in Ahmedabad; death toll could go up

— Photo: AP

To the rescue: Fire brigade personnel rescue a victim from the rubble of a collapsed building in Ahmedabad on Sunday.

AHMEDABAD: Six persons were killed and 14 injured, seven of them seriously, when a hotel building at Kalupur, just opposite the Ahmedabad’s main railway station, collapsed on Sunday morning.

Rescue operations are on and the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation authorities apprehend that the death toll could go up.

While the hotel owner is reportedly absconding, knowledgeable sources said a couple of hotel staff on duty on Saturday night were missing and could possibly be under the debris.

Sniffer dogs have been pressed into service. The authorities fear that the chances of rescuing those trapped are remote.

The basement plus three-storey building, in which Hotel Shakun held three floors and the basement housed a Bank of India branch, was constructed in 1985.

Ahmedabad Municipal Commissioner I.P. Gautam said faulty excavation in the adjacent plot caused serious damage to the foundation of the building. He said the hotel owner and the bank were cautioned about the state of the building just three days ago and asked to vacate it immediately. While the bank was in the process of shifting, the hotel owner reopened it only on Saturday night.

The government has declared Rs.1 lakh compensation to the kin of the deceased.

At the time of the collapse, there were about 22 people in the building, including the hotel staff.

A police complaint has been lodged against the hotel owner and the owner of the adjacent plot for negligence.

About 200 Ahmedabad fire brigade personnel and State disaster management officials launched rescue and relief operations with help from about 125 volunteers of the non-government organisations.

While two bodies were recovered on the spot, the injured were shifted to the nearby government civil and Shardaben hospitals, where the condition of the seven injured was stated to be critical.

At least two of the victims were believed to have from Jhalore and Udaipur in Rajasthan and one from Indore in Madhya Pradesh.

Speaker Ashok Bhatt, Minister of State for Home Amit Shah and Minister of State for Women’s Welfare Maya Kodnani supervised rescue operations. Health Minister Jaynarayan Vyas visited the injured at the civil and Shardaben hospitals.

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