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News > World

India: Six-Story Building Collapses Near New Delhi, Two Dead

  • The building – one of several to have collapsed in the past few years – housed up to a dozen families, according to India TV.

    The building – one of several to have collapsed in the past few years – housed up to a dozen families, according to India TV. | Photo: Reuters

Published 17 July 2018
Opinion

The building – one of several to have collapsed in the past few years – housed up to a dozen families, according to India TV.

A six-story building collapsed into a neighboring construction site in Greater Noida near New Delhi late Tuesday, killing two and trapping at least 50 people, police said.

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The National Disaster Response Force has been asked to provide all possible help and medical supplies to the injured, the office of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said in a tweet.

Emergency workers sifting through piles of iron and concrete overnight pulled out two bodies Wednesday morning from the site in Greater Noida, a satellite town east of the Indian capital.

"We have no concrete evidence on the number of people present in the buildings at the time of the crash," regional chief fire officer Arun Kumar Singh said, warning the toll could rise.

Reports claiming families were living inside the residential complex when the collapse occurred Tuesday evening were not confirmed, he added.

Three people, including the landowner, have been detained by state police over the collapse of the building.

"We are questioning them to ascertain the kind of partnership they had with the builder ... Strict action will be taken against those responsible," Avnish Kumar, a Greater Noida police officer, told AFP.

At least 100 emergency workers were using steel cutters and heavy machinery to clear the site and search for victims Wednesday.

The six-story building had collapsed onto a newly constructed four-story residential building, authorities confirmed.

Parts of Greater Noida are known for the rampant and unregulated construction of residential complexes that are popular with middle-class families as housing costs skyrocket around the Indian capital region.

Many such real estate projects ignore government construction regulations, and builders cut corners by using substandard material to make profits, according to reports.

Building collapses are common across India, especially during the monsoon season from late June to September.

At least 18 people died in May when a flyover collapsed in northern India, crushing vehicles and passengers under tonnes of concrete.Last year at least 30 people were killed and a dozen injured after a 100-year-old house collapsed in western Mumbai.

In July 2017, 17 people were killed when a four-story building crumbled in Mumbai after undergoing suspected unauthorized renovations. Mumbai's municipal corporation has listed 791 buildings as dangerous this year, but only a few of those have been evacuated or demolished. More than 500 were still occupied, according to local authorities. 

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