A four-storey residential building came crashing down in northeast ‘s area on Wednesday afternoon, killing three. The body of a child, aged a year and a half with its head severed, has been recovered from the debris. A pregnant woman was also killed while at least eight people have been injured, officials said.
According to PTI, eight injured people have been rescued and sent to hospitals.
“Eight injured people, including a child aged three years, have been rescued. The operation is ongoing and further details regarding the incident are being collected,” a police officer told PTI.
The Delhi Fire Services (DFS) received a call regarding the collapse at around 3:30 pm. Soon fire tenders reached the site. Teams from the Delhi Police, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), the National Disaster Response Force (), the MCD and the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) also the spot, launching the rescue operation.
According to officials, the building was constructed on a plot measuring approximately 225 square feet. The MCD, however, described it as a three-storey structure in a ‘jhuggi-jhopri’ area spread over around 22 square yards in the DUSIB area near the Idgah Machhli Mandi.
While the official cause of the collapse is not known yet, authorities suspect that cracks might have appeared in the building as a result of the recent tremors caused by an earthquake in Uttarakhand on Tuesday evening.
MCD said that the fallen building was around 20-25 years old. It was occupied when the front portion of the building fell down.
“In addition to the building, walls of an adjoining building have fallen, while the boundary wall of a nearby mosque has also collapsed due to the impact of the incident,” the civic body was quoted saying by PTI.
The incident came a month after Delhi’s collapsed on September 6. It left seven people dead and 12 injured.
