A residential building in Delhi collapsed, with dozens of students feared trapped inside. At least three people were killed, three others were in a critical condition and at least eight people were reportedly rescued.
Rescue operation
Rescuers were working to free people trapped after the collapse.
News agency PTI reported the deaths and critical conditions, citing local police. Reports said at least eight people had been rescued so far.
A legislative assembly member said at the scene that some trapped students had been making calls from under the rubble.
Rekha Gupta said: “Every possible effort is being made to safely rescue those trapped”.
Buildings beside the hostel
Eyewitnesses told local media that another building beside the hostel had also collapsed. One eyewitness told news agency ANI that the other building had also been a hostel.
An adjacent building was evacuated, Rekha Gupta said, as a precautionary measure.
Construction work was taking place in the basement of the building. The owner of a nearby shop told ANI that it had been under a 100-year lease and that the leaseholder had undertaken excavation work in the basement to expand the hostel and increase their income.
The shop owner said the upper building had been strengthened but the pillars below were weak. The owner also said the construction workers had been buried.
Delhi Police said the building had only been 40 or 50 years old.
The collapse in Satya Niketan
The collapse happened in Delhi, the Indian capital, in the Satya Niketan neighbourhood of south-west Delhi. Satya Niketan is a densely populated area with a large student population and a number of hostels.
The building, called Hostel Daze, was a five-storey building a short distance from Delhi University campus. It came down around 13:30 local time (08:00 GMT) on Sunday.
There were no lessons on Sunday, and many of the students staying in the building were thought to have been in their rooms at the time of the collapse.
Eyewitnesses said as many as 50 people were inside when the building came down.
Building collapses are relatively common in Delhi. Fire department figures recorded more than a thousand building collapses in the past three years, causing dozens of deaths.
Eleven people, including three children, were reportedly killed last April when a residential building collapsed in north-eastern Delhi.
Investigation call
Times of India reported that police were searching for the owner of the building.
The National Students’ Union of India called on the government to investigate the cause of the collapse and hold anyone found responsible to account.
It said: “Negligence with the safety of students and common people will not be tolerated at any cost”.
Source: BBC News
