At least three people – two children and a four-month pregnant woman – were confirmed dead and eight injured after a five-storey building collapsed in northeast Delhi’s Seemapuri on Wednesday, trapping 11 people under its debris, police said.
The death toll could be higher, as much as six, hospital officials said, citing the recovery of multiple body parts from the site.
The latest in a series of building-related tragedies to hit the Capital this year, the collapse once again brought into focus enforcement failures surrounding construction and structural safety in the city. Also Read I ‘She is 4 months pregnant’: Families search for loved ones after Delhi’s Seemapuri building collapse The owner, Mohammed Anwar, is a mason who also operated a scrap dealership from the ground floor of the building.
Police said they had not been able to trace him until the time of going to press. Investigators and rescue officials said Anwar lived with his family on the two floors above the scrap shop, while the two floors above his residence were rented out to two separate families. The chief minister’s office said teams from the Delhi Fire Service, Delhi Police, Delhi Disaster Management Authority, MCD, CATS and NDRF were deployed to the site. “Every effort is being made to safely rescue those trapped under the debris and provide prompt medical care to the injured,” it said.
Family members search as rescue ops continue
The scale of the rescue operation became clear as the hours passed. Her sister Sameena, who lives nearby, stood among residents waiting for her rescue and pleaded with those at the site to help. “She doesn’t even live here. She was just visiting our mother.
An HT reporter at the spot saw the first body, that of one of the children, being pulled from the debris at 7.20pm. The body of the woman was recovered around 8.15pm. Police later identified her as 21-year-old Gulafsa, who was four months pregnant.
On the phone, she said that her four-year-old daughter and the daughter of the owner of the building are stuck with her. She was having trouble breathing,” she said.
