Death Toll In Old Delhi Chawri Bazar Building Collapse Hits Three

(MENAFN- AsiaNet News)

Delhi Building Collapse Update

The death toll in the Delhi Chawri Bazar building collapse rose to 3 on Saturday after rescue workers recovered the mortal remains of another victim from the debris, police said. The deceased has been identified as 40-year-old Pankaj Sharma, a resident of Village Hanuman Nagar in Bihar's Khagaria district.

With this latest recovery, a total of five individuals have been accounted for from the collapse site, comprising three fatalities and two injured persons. The other two deceased have been identified as Kishori, aged 40, and Sanjeet, aged 45. Both injured persons have received medical treatment and are now stable. Further rescue operations are still underway at the site, according to Delhi Police.

Incident Details and Investigation

The three-storey under-construction building collapsed at Gali Sheesh Mahal, Gali Shehatara, near Ajmeri Gate, in Old Delhi's Chawri Bazar area at around 10:30 am on Thursday. Two people were killed, and five others sustained injuries in the incident.

Three contractors have been arrested in connection with the collapse of an under-construction building in Delhi's Chawri Bazar area, which claimed two lives, as rescue operations continued on Friday to locate people feared trapped beneath the debris, Delhi Police said. The arrested contractors have been identified as Siraj, Tajuddin and Furkan, all residents of Village Sirohi, Tehsil Dauj, in Haryana's Faridabad district. They have been arrested in connection with a case registered under Section 105 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) in relation to the incident, police said.

Cause of Collapse

Earlier on Thursday, Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Manoj Kumar said that five people were suspected to be trapped in the basement of the collapsed building, while four people had been rescued. He said that around 30 personnel from the National Disaster Force (NDRF) and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) were engaged in the rescue operation.

Explaining the suspected cause of the collapse, Kumar said that a four-storey structure had been built on a small plot and that the temporary supports may have been removed before the concrete and debris had dried. "A four-storey structure had been built on a small plot. It appears that the centring (temporary support) was removed while the debris/concrete was still wet, which led to the collapse. The wet debris has now set and is trapped in the basement...It is suspected that 5 people are trapped. Currently, 30 personnel from the NDRF and MCD are engaged in the operation. Four people have been rescued," he said.

According to the details of the incident, unauthorised construction on the second and third floors is suspected to have given way, bringing down the entire structure. The narrow and densely populated locality has posed significant challenges for rescue teams. The building is situated at the end of a dead-end lane barely three feet wide, making it inaccessible to motorised vehicles, rescue trucks and heavy earthmoving machinery. (ANI)

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianetnews Editorial staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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