NEW DELHI: A young woman displayed remarkable courage when she managed to rescue her parents from the debris of a collapsed building in Mustafabad early Saturday morning. Her family had been living there as tenants for over a decade. Tragically, she was unable to save her two brothers — one of whom was the family’s sole breadwinner.
A relative of the house owner, Tahseen, said he had already suffered a devastating loss during the 2020 Delhi riots following the CAA-NRC protests. “His son Aas Mohammad had gone out for some work and never returned. On March 9, his decomposed body was recovered from the Gokulpuri drain,” the relative said. In this tragedy, seven members of Tahseen’s family lost their lives.
Rehana Khatoon’s brother, Shahzad Ahmed (48), said Shahid was a tenant of Tahseen. “He and his wife, Rehana were injured, while their two sons, Danish and Naved, died. Their daughter, Neha Parveen, sustained minor injuries. They lived on the third floor,” he said.
“My niece called me at 3.07 am and asked me to reach Mustafabad as the building where they lived had collapsed. She said she was lucky not to get trapped inside. She managed to rescue her parents but couldn’t save her brothers, Danish and Naved,” he added.
Shahid worked in a chemical-related job in Karawal Nagar but lost sight in one eye after a chemical accident. “He had surgery, but it wasn’t successful. He stopped working as he couldn’t see properly after 6 pm,” said Ahmed.
“Danish, a scrap dealer, was the family’s breadwinner. Naved was a college student.” They had been renting the house for 13 to 14 years. “The building wasn’t very old and had four shops on the ground floor,” Ahmed added.
Reshma’s brother-in-law, Rashid (26), who lives nearby, said, “I heard a loud noise and checked from my terrace but didn’t realise the collapsed building was Reshma’s. Later, people informed me and I rushed to the spot. I also called Reshma’s other brother-in-law, Alim Ali, who came from Loni in UP. Reshma was a housewife and her husband, Ahmed Nabi (36), works as a tailor.”
Nabi’s nephew, Gulam Hussain (24), said he identified family members when they were rescued and had stayed at the hospital since. “My nieces, Tanu and Alia, and nephew, Alfez, have received fractures,” he said. Reshma’s brother, Farmood (35), took a bus from Moradabad, UP, and reached Delhi by 5 am.
He suspected that ongoing construction at a meat shop on the ground floor might have weakened the structure.
“There were one-room flats on each floor. Two families were living on one floor. The first floor belonged to the owner, Tehseen, and there were eight people on that floor, four on the second, and ten tenants in total,” he said. Chand Mohammad (20), Tehseen’s son, was discharged from GTB Hospital. “We were sleeping when it happened. I don’t know how it occurred. I was injured but discharged. I kept praying for my family’s safety,” he said.
Chand’s wife, Chandani, died in the incident. Her family, from UP’s Baghpat, also rushed to the hospital. Her brother Waseem said, “She got married five years ago and had two children — a son and a daughter. My younger brother got the news around 3:30 am and called me. I last spoke to her at 10 pm. She said she was fine. And now this has happened.”Locals said they heard a loud noise when the building collapsed but couldn’t see anything due to thick dust.
“When the smoke cleared, we realised the building had collapsed. People immediately rushed to help and rescued three individuals,” a local said. Two tenant families were living on the third floor.
Neighbour Mukarram said he could hear Chand’s screams from beneath the debris. “People rushed to help. Chand and his two children were pulled out, but his wife, Chandani, died before our eyes,” he said. Due to the heat, some people had been sleeping on the roof and were quickly rescued.
Chand’s friend, Ashiq, said he came to the scene after the collapse. “When I learned Chand was in GTB Hospital, I went to see him. He broke down after seeing me and kept asking about his family.”