When a building in Delhi's Satya Niketan crumbled into heaps of rubble on Sunday afternoon, a woman in the neighbourhood helplessly saw the tragedy unfold and cried for help. A video recorded from the building opposite the hostel that collapsed, shows dust clouds rising from the debris and people trying to rescue those buried under the rubble. A woman can be heard howling in the background.
Follow Updates On Delhi Building Collapse
Two such short videos from the incident site are going viral. Recorded from the window of a house opposite 'Hostel Daze', the videos show a woman capturing the horror on her phone and crying.
"Kitne saare bachche hai... Oh my god. Hum kahan reh rahe hain (So many children... Oh my god. Where are we living?)" the woman says as she weeps over the loss of people in the tragic incident.
"Bachao unko. Bachao..." she adds before breaking down.
Seven people have died and several others have suffered injuries in the building's collapse. The rescue operation has been underway for over 24 hours now with 12 people rescued.
The Delhi civic body on Monday suspended five officials, including Deputy Commissioner (South Zone) Rakesh Kumar. The four other suspended officials are: Superintending Engineer Ranvir Singh, Executive Engineer (Building) Lalit Kumar Goel, Assistant Engineer (Building) Sunil Chauhan and Junior Engineer (Building) Ashish Kumar of the South Zone.
"Unfortunately, we have lost seven lives. We think the building next to the collapsed building has weakened, and it was strengthened through the night. We will take it up for demolition in a calibrated manner in the next one to two days," MCD Commissioner Sanjeev Khirwar said.
The preliminary investigation has revealed that the building, built in 1970, had a basement, a ground and three floors. It had been vacated nearly a year ago. It was a dilapidated structure in a sea of hostels. A couple of months ago, the owner, Hari Ram Bansal, began renovation work and in August, he welcomed tenants to his newly opened men's PG, 'Hostel Daze'. The repair work, however, was not complete.
Preliminary information accessed by NDTV has revealed that a pillar became unstable during the repair work, weakening the structure and causing the building to collapse. Water accumulation in the basement also triggered the collapse, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said.
The owner of the building has been detained in Rajasthan's Bhiwadi.
