2 dead, many feared trapped as building collapses in Delhi

Two people died after a three-storey under-construction building collapsed in Old Delhi's Chawri Bazaar on Thursday morning. 

One more person is reported to be injured while several are feared trapped.

According to the preliminary information, the incident was reported at 9:50 am from Gali Sitara, near the Chawri Bazaar Metro station. At least six fire units, including water tenders and rescue vehicles, have been rushed to the spot.

The visual from the ground shows a part of the building on the ground with debris accumulated in a narrow lane, between adjacent buildings. Historically narrow lanes of Delhi are likely to pose a challenge to rescuers. One of the videos from the ground show residents removing their vehicles from the affected lane and making way for an ambulance.

This comes days after after two slabs of a building collapsed in northeast Delhi killing two men. The incident occurred in the Milan Garden area during construction of a new floor above an old house. During the construction work, a portion of the existing roof reportedly gave way, causing the slab above it to collapse as well.

The victims, Chanderpal, 60, and Vijay Kumar, 33, were trapped under the debris and declared dead after being rescued and taken to hospital.

Before that, on October 7, three people, including a child, died after a four-storey building collapsed in the Seemapuri area of northeast Delhi. Eight injured people were rescued and taken to Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital in Tahirpur for treatment. 

Reacting to the latest tragedy, AAP's Saurabh Bharadwaj hit out at Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and Municipal Corporation of Delhi. After a building running as boys' paying guest (PG) accommodation in South Delhi's Satya Niketan collapsed on September 6, the MCD carried out safety audits. Bharadwaj questioned those audits and asked: "Rekha Gupta's government and MCD conducted multiple safety audits of all buildings in Delhi, yet buildings keep collapsing. Why?"