NEW DELHI
Two labourers died and three sustained injuries after a three-storey under-construction residential building collapsed in south-west Delhi’s Satya Niketan area on Monday. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal described the incident as “very sad” through a tweet issued in the evening.
Several teams of Delhi Police, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Delhi Fire Service (DFS) carried out the three-hour-long rescue operation. The deceased were identified as Bilal, 40, and Naseem, 35, while the injured - Md. Firdaus, Aslam, Sarfaraz and Musahid - are undergoing treatment.
DFS chief Atul Garg said the fire service received the call about the collapse at 1:24 p.m., following which six fire tenders were rushed to the spot. He added that renovation work was being carried out in the house when it collapsed trapping five labourers in the debris.
Mr. Garg added that all the victims were pulled out of the rubble by 5 p.m. and rushed to a hospital where two succumbed to their injuries.
Unauthorised construction
In an official statement, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) said the owner of the building was carrying out some alterations to his property when it suddenly collapsed. “Inquiry revealed that this building was constructed about 25 years back,” the south civic body said.
It added that a notice had already been served to the owner under the DMC Act, 1957, on March 31, for carrying out the modifications while the Delhi police had also requested the owner on April 11 to stop the work.
The civic body had on April 11 also issued a notice to the Delhi police seeking a halt on the “unauthorised construction”.
The brother of one of the deceased, Bilal, said he found out about the incident when his brother, with whom he used to share afternoon meals, did not turn up for lunch.
“My brother asked me to wait for lunch as he had some work…after I waited for some time, I went back to check and found that he was trapped in the debris,” Bilal’s brother Intekaam said.
Intekaam added that he could hear the screams of the trapped labourers but couldn’t do anything to save them. “I don’t have the courage to tell the news about my brother’s death to his wife and children back in Bihar,” Intekaam said.
