NEW DELHI: At least four people were killed while 14 others sustained injuries after a portion of a house collapsed in the Karol Bagh area of central Delhi on Wednesday morning, a senior Delhi Police official said.
The deceased were identified as Aman (12), Mukim (25), Mujib (18) and Mohsin (26), all natives of Khatanagar village, Rampur, Uttar Pradesh. Except for Aman, all the three were into making ladies' slippers.
According to a Delhi Fire Service officer, the department received a call at 9.12 am regarding the collapsing of a house at Prashad Nagar, Karol Bagh following which five fire tenders were immediately rushed to the spot.
Parallely, the fire department was also intimated following which it dispatched five fire tenders-cum-rescue vehicles to the spot where the firemen found out that it was some portion of a five-storey old building that had collapsed and several people were trapped under the debris. A rescue operation was initiated immediately.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) M Harsh Vardhan said the ill-fated building of 25 square yards comes under the limits of Prasad Nagar police station.
"We rescued 18 people from under the debris and shifted them to a nearby hospital. Four among them were brought dead," the DCP said, adding that the local police along with other agencies carried out the rescue operation which lasted till 5.30 pm.
The rescue agencies which include teams of Delhi Police, Delhi Fire Service (DFS), and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) cleared the debris manually to find people who were trapped under the rubble.
The building is located in an extremely congested area having narrow lanes which made the rescue operation more difficult as heavy machinery or cranes which could have been used to clear the debris were unable to reach the spot.
Of the injured people, two are said to be critical while one person has been discharged after treatment.
"Preliminary enquiry has revealed that some tenants were residing in the building who were not from Delhi," the DCP said.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister-designate Atishi Singh has ordered the District Magistrate to provide all possible help to the injured and find out the reason behind the incident.
"This incident of house collapse in Karol Bagh area is very sad. I have ordered the District Magistrate to provide all possible help to the people living there and the victims, if anyone is injured, get him treated and find out the reasons for this accident. I have also spoken to the Municipal Corporation Mayor regarding the accident," the CM-designate conveyed through X.
She further appealed the people of Delhi to inform the administration if they suspect any danger in the construction of any building.
"There has been a lot of rain this year, my appeal to all the people of Delhi is that if there is any possibility of any accident related to construction, then immediately inform the administration and the corporation, the government will immediately help you," the AAP leader said.
"We had alerted owner about building's condition," say locals
Residents of Bapa Nagar have claimed that they repeatedly alerted the owner of the building, which collapsed on Wednesday in central Delhi, about its deteriorating condition, but their warnings went unheeded.
"The building was in a completely dilapidated state. We had told the owner multiple times, but he never paid any attention to it," said a local who lived near the collapsed structure.
The tragedy resulted in the deaths of at least four people, while 14 others were injured. Two of the injured are still fighting for their lives. The five-storey building reportedly collapsed in less than 30 seconds.
"I had just entered my house and, within 30 seconds, I came outside after hearing a loud thud. The building collapsed in that time," another witness stated, adding that two of his two-wheelers remain trapped under the rubble.
Residents of nearby buildings also noted that the heavy overnight rains worsened the already fragile state of the building. "There was leakage in the building. Even yesterday, water was dripping from the roof," one of them said.
The building was located in a highly congested area with narrow lanes, which hampered rescue operations. The space constraints made it difficult for heavy machinery and cranes to reach the site to clear the debris.
In the aftermath, the Delhi BJP has held the AAP-ruled Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) responsible for the incident. The party claims that the MCD failed to conduct a necessary survey of dangerous and dilapidated buildings in the city, despite their requests.
Delhi BJP leader Praveen Shankar Kapoor said that he has been consistently writing to Mayor Dr Shelly Oberoi, urging her to carry out inspections of unsafe buildings and issue repair or vacation notices, particularly in the City Sadar Pahar Ganj and Karol Bagh areas.
"Unfortunately, the Mayor has ignored our repeated requests for a survey of dangerous buildings, and her callousness is responsible for today's fatal building collapse at Bapa Nagar," Kapoor said.
The BJP has called on the civic body to provide Rs 1 crore in compensation to the families of the deceased and Rs 5 lakh for each injured person.