11 dead in Delhi building collapse

At least 11 persons, including three kids and four women, were killed and as many injured after a four-storey building in northeast Delhi’s Dayalpur area in which they were residing collapsed in the wee hours of today.

The deceased were identified as Chandni (23), Danish (23), Naved (17), Reshma (38), Anas (6), Nazeem (30), Tehsin (60), Shahina (28), Afreen (4), Afan (2) and Ishaq (75).

Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta ordered a probe into the incident and said strict action would be taken against those responsible. “Deeply saddened by the tragic building collapse in Mustafabad. Orders have been issued to investigate the incident and strict action will be taken against the culprits,” the CM posted on X.

Municipal Commissioner Ashwani Kumar will investigate the incident. He has been directed to suspend the officers concerned for negligence.

According to a Fire Department official, a call regarding the building collapse was received at 2.50 am following which nine fire engines-cum-rescue vehicles were rushed to the spot — Street No. 1, Shakti Vihar in Dayalpur.

At the same time, the local police were also alerted, who reached the spot along with a team of the National Disaster Response Force and an ambulance to take the injured to hospital.

“On reaching the location, it was found that a four-storeyed building, belonging to Tehsin, had collapsed, reportedly trapping 22 individuals,” a senior police officer said.

A joint rescue operation was initiated and the teams managed to pull out 14 persons from the debris and rushed them to Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital. However, doctors declared four of them as “brought dead”.

The police learnt that seven or eight more persons were suspected to be trapped under the debris. The rescue operation continued till 5 pm in the evening during which seven more bodies were retrieved from the debris.

While the police or any civic agency are yet to establish the reason behind the collapse, it is suspected that the structure was in a dilapidated condition and Friday’s rain, coupled with strong winds of around 40 km per hour, may have triggered the tragedy. Moreover, as per official sources, construction work was underway on the ground floor, which may have weakened the base of the building.