One person was killed and 14 others injured after a four-storey building collapsed in North-East Delhi's Jafrabad area in the wee hours of Saturday.
The deceased has been identified as Furqaan Ansari; who was the contractor of the building. The owner of the building, Mehrajuddin, managed to flee the construction site. The injured were taken to Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital and were later released after being administered with first aid.
The incident took place when labourers were pulling down the presumed weaker portion of the building after placing wooden planks beneath. The building had developed cracks and a report with this regard was made to the civic body and the police.
According to police, the incident in question took place around 1:50 am on Saturday. The building, located at Nehar Bazaar area of Vijay Mohalla of the locality, had around 17 labourers working on the top floor during the time of the incident.
locals, on Friday, had informed the police that the building could collapse anytime as there were visible cracks in its structure. The police immediately rushed to the spot and blocked one carriageway of the road. Barricades were put to prevent public and vehicles from entering.
People living inside the building and in the surrounding buildings were evacuated as well. A call was later made to the Disaster Management team about the precarious condition of the building. Representatives of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC), disaster management team, Additional Commissioner of Police and Tahsildar rushed to the location. The owner of the building was informed by the EDMC officials to demolish certain parts of the building.
As the structure caved in, the locals rushed to rescue those trapped inside. There was no electricity in the area and due to the collapse, nothing was visible. “A loud thump sound was heard. We used torchlight to search for people. I threw bottles to give water to those who were stuck inside. local people joined in and we took those injured to the hospital. The ambulance or the bulldozers had not arrived even after two hours of the incident,” said Saqib Khan.
Meanwhile, EDMC said that the owner of the property had already been served a notice to demolish the dangerous portions of the building. “The owner agreed to get the building demolished,” said an official of the Corporation.
“The basement of the building and the ground floor were old constructions. The three floors were constructed in the past three months. A jeans factory shop was running in the basement. A case has been registered at Jaffarabad Police station under Sections 288 and 304 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against Mehrajuddin, but he has not been arrested as yet,” a police official said.