NEW DELHI: In a miraculous escape, one person was pulled out alive after 48 hours from the rubble as the death toll from the collapse of an industrial building in Jalandhar rose to 7 on Wednesday morning.
The person, who was pulled out alive, said he has seen four dead bodies inside. 58 people have been rescued. The victims were all factory workers doing the night shift on Sunday when the four-storyed structure collapsed. Over 90 others are still believed to be trapped under the rubble.
Rescue operations were on to locate possible survivors.
Visiting the scene, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal announced that special safety audits would be conducted in all industrial units in the state to prevent such mishaps.
The audits would be conducted by industries and local government departments to ascertain both latent and patent defects in buildings, he told reporters.
Racing against time, rescuers sifted through the debris to extricate those still believed to be trapped in the rubble of the factory building which collapsed midnight Sunday in Focal Point area.
Police had arrested the factory owner and registered a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against him.