One person died while two others were grievously injured on Sunday after a six-storey building housing a paying guest (PG) accommodation came crashing down like a pack of cards in Delhi’s Satya Niketan, officials said. Several persons are feared to have been trapped beneath the debris.

Delhi Police said that so far, six persons have been rescued and have been transported to nearby hospitals, while search and rescue operations are in full swing. According to officials, the building lodged a 75-bed PG accommodation, and collapsed at around 1:30 pm. The owner of the building is a resident of Gurugram.

Repair work underway in basement

According to police, an inquiry conducted on the local level found that the structure was around 40-50 years old. It comprised a basement and five upper floors, and was being used as PG accommodation when the incident unfolded.

As per a statement issued by the police, the building’s repair work was underway in the basement when it collapsed.

In the aftermath of the incident, teams from the Delhi Police, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Delhi Fire Service and Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) rushed to the scene along with fire tenders and CATS ambulances.

Senior police officials, including the Joint Commissioner of Police, New Delhi Range, and senior officials from the South-West district extended contribution in supervising the rescue operation.

As many as 12 fire tenders were deployed, while an excavator was pressed into service to clear the debris. Additional heavy machinery was also roped in to remove concrete slabs and girders.

Disaster response teams also chipped in, while riot-control personnel were summoned to manage the humongous crowd that gathered at the site.

Students feared trapped beneath rubble

An eyewitness told the media that close to 50 students may have been inside the building when it collapsed. Given that it was Sunday, many residents were inside their rooms. Another student present at the scene told news agency ANI that he could hear cries for help emerging from beneath the rubble. Another eyewitness said the building was named ‘Hostel Daze,’ a men’s PG.

Heart-wrenching visuals emerged from the scene, showing locals attempting to dig through the debris with their bare hands, soon after which the rescue machinery arrived. In a video circulating online, a man could be seen trapped beneath a concrete slab as several people struggled to lift it.

Satya Niketan, located in close proximity to the Delhi University’s South Campus, teems with students and young professionals.

CM, LG monitor rescue operation

Delhi Chief Minister (CM) Rekha Gupta expressed profound concern over the incident and said rescue operations were underway on a war footing. She said the adjoining building had been evacuated as a precaution and that all possible efforts were being ensured to rescue the ones trapped and provide immediate aid to the affected families.

Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor (LG) Taranjit Singh Sandhu also directed the agencies concerned to coordinate closely to ensure rescue efforts advance swiftly.

Local BJP MLA Anil Sharma, who was present at the site, said some students were still making calls from inside the collapsed structure, signalling that more people could remain trapped.

Meanwhile, AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged that corruption was responsible for the incident, and compared it with another building, which collapsed in Saket earlier. He alleged irregularities in the transfers of executive engineers in the MCD’s Building Department and claimed that such incidents would continue unless systemic issues were addressed.