Toll in Delhi building collapse climbs to 11; blame on ground-floor construction work

The death toll in the building collapse in northeast Delhi on Saturday (April 19) morning has gone up to 11, with five more people succumbing to their injuries at hospitals.

Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), fire services, Delhi Police, and other volunteers carried out rescue efforts for over 12 hours at the site of the 20-year-old four-storey structure that collapsed in the Mustafabad area of the national capital around 3 am on Saturday.

What led to collapse?

As for the reason behind the collapse, news agency PTI quoted police sources as saying that construction work in "two or three shops" on the ground floor could have led to it. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta ordered a probe into the incident and expressed sadness over the incident.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi, in a statement, said the structure was around 20 years old and was fully occupied, reported PTI.

Lives altered

The accident permanently altered the lives of many, ranging from those who lost their loved ones to those who were rattled by its fatal outcome.

In a matter of hours, Sonu Abbas saw his sister coming out alive from beneath the rubble, getting up and ensuring that her husband and children were safe, and then suddenly collapsing and dying.

"She got up, saw that her husband and children were safe, and helped them out of the rubble," he said. Only after that she collapsed and passed away," Abbas told PTI. Both his nephews suffered injuries and his brother-in-law is in critical condition.

Abbas is just one among the several people whose lives have been permanently altered by the collapse of the residential building in Gali No. 1, Mustafabad.

Also Read: Delhi: 4 killed after multi-storey building collapses

Families lose breadwinners

Sehjhad Ahmad lost two of his nephews, bread earners of their family, in the accident. His nephews Danish and Naved ran the household and, now, the family has lost its bread earners, said Ahmed.

His sister and brother-in-law are in critical condition. "I got a call around 4 am and rushed to the site as soon as I heard about it," he said.

For Shiv Vihar local Ryan, who lives next to the building that collapsed, it felt like an earthquake. The floor shook beneath us, and before we could understand anything, everything was covered in dust," he said.

Also read: Earthquakes don't kill, weak buildings do

Malpractice alleged

According to a PTI report, some residents claimed that the ongoing construction work on the ground floor where a new shop was reportedly being built might have triggered the collapse.

They questioned the structural condition of nearby buildings. “There are around four to five buildings in a similarly fragile state," said Salim Ali.

"Wastewater from the sewer has been seeping into the walls of the buildings for years, and over time, the moisture has weakened the structure, causing the walls to absorb water and develop cracks," said Ali.

(With agency inputs)