In a tragic incident, two children, both brothers aged seven and 12, died after a four storey building collapsed in North Delhi’s Sabzi Mandi area on Monday. Police said that the boys were passing by when the incident occurred and they got trapped under the debris. The officials said that a 72-year-old man, who was also trapped under the debris, was rescued and rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment. It is suspected that three to four more people are trapped under the debris and rescue operation is going on.
The ground floor of the building is believed to be 75-years-old and it was being used for commercial purposes while the rest of the building was used for residential purposes. Locals said that construction work was also going on the ground floor of the building. A car parked nearby was severely damaged as the debris from the building fell on it.
The incident comes days after record heavy rains pounded Delhi, throwing life out of gear. Following the incident, the locals also gathered at the spot to help with rescue operations, but were later removed from the area by the police.
According to a senior police official, the two children, who were trapped under the rubble were also rescued and sent to hospital but succumbed to their injuries.
“Both of them are brothers and were declared brought dead by the doctors at the hospital. An elderly man identified as Ramji Das was also rescued from the debris and he sustained head injury,” said the senior police official.
“The children were passing by the road with their mother when the building collapsed and the two brothers got trapped under the debris. A case will be registered in the matter and legal action will be taken accordingly,” he said.
“The Delhi Fire Service (DFS) received a call about the incident at 11.50 AM following which five fire tenders and rescue teams were rushed to the spot. Later two more fire tenders were dispatched for the spot,” said Atul Garg, the director of DFS.
Teams of North Municipal Corporation Delhi (NMC), NDRF among others were at the spot and were participating in the rescue operation.
“On the ground floor of the building, there was a sweet shop whereas the upper floors were reportedly residential in nature. As per the local inquiry, the upper floors of the building were vacant and no construction activity was going-on. Further, no complaint regarding any unauthorised construction in the said building was received from any source in the Building Department, Civil Lines,” said an official of the NMC.
“An inquiry has been ordered by the Commissioner, NMC in this unfortunate incident to be conducted by the Building Department (HQs) and directed for submission of report within seven days. Further, necessary action against delinquent officials, if any, will be taken after receipt of the report,” he said.
After the incident, the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said he is closely monitoring the situation.
“The incident of building collapse in Sabzi Mandi area is very sad. The administration is engaged in relief and rescue work. Through the district administration, I am monitoring the situation,” he tweeted in Hindi.
AAP MLA from Timarpur Dilip Pandey also took to Twitter and said the local administration along with party workers are engaged in rescue operations.
“Very unfortunate incident, 75-year-old building of Laxman Prasad ji collapsed in Malkaganj. On the spot, fire brigade team and local administration, we and AAP workers are engaged in rescue work. Two people were evacuated safely. About 7-8 more people feared to be trapped inside,” he tweeted in Hindi.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner, NMC has directed all the zonal authorities to depute-assessment of the conditions of already declared dangerous buildings and structures and to take immediate action as per relevant provisions of the DMC Act in those cases, which are found at high risk.