Rescuers are searching for survivors under the rubble of a six-storey building that collapsed in Satya Niketan, southwest Delhi, on Sunday afternoon. Several people are feared trapped, a government representative told reporters.
The building operated as a 75-bed paying guest accommodation and came down at around 1.30 p.m. local time, officials said. Satya Niketan sits near Delhi University’s South campus and houses a large student population.
Conflicting rescue figures
Accounts of how many have been pulled out differ. Six people had been rescued and a search was continuing for others, Ada Derana and the Daily Mirror both reported, with three of them moved for treatment. Police gave a more conservative figure of two rescued and declined to estimate how many remained trapped. Ada Derana’s own headline referred to one person rescued while its report said six.
An eyewitness said at least 50 students were believed to be inside when the building fell, most of them at home because it was a Sunday. A student at the scene told the news agency ANI he had heard cries for help from beneath the rubble. Another witness described the building as a men’s paying guest hostel called ‘Hostel Daze’. The owner lives in Gurugram.
The response
At least 12 fire tenders were sent to the site, along with an excavator and disaster response teams, with more machinery brought in to lift slabs and girders. Riot-control units were summoned to manage the crowd. Local residents began digging through the debris by hand before rescuers and equipment arrived, and one video circulating online showed a person wedged under a concrete slab as others tried to lift it.
Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said she was deeply concerned and that rescue work was being carried out “on a war footing.”
“The adjacent building has been vacated as a precautionary measure. Every possible effort is being made to safely rescue those trapped and provide immediate assistance to the affected families,” she said.
Delhi Lieutenant Governor Taranjit Singh Sandhu said he had directed Delhi Police, the Delhi Fire Service and the city’s disaster management authority to work in coordination on the rescue.
Not yet known
No death toll has been confirmed, and no official figure has been given for the number still trapped. Neither report gave a cause for the collapse, said whether the building had been cleared as structurally safe, or named anyone rescued. The Daily Mirror carried the account from the Indian broadcaster NDTV; Ada Derana did not attribute a wire.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
