New Delhi: An around 50-year-old five-storey building housing a boys’ hostel in a congested bylane in Satya Niketan near Delhi University’s South Campus collapsed on Sunday afternoon, leaving three students dead and many trapped.
Locals claimed that there could be between 30 and 50 people in the building at the time. Authorities, however, gave no figure for those trapped.
Eight people have been pulled out of the debris so far, of whom two were brought dead to the hospital, while a third died during treatment. Five are critical, the police said.
Repair work was underway in the basement of the five-floor structure, which was used as a paying guest (PG) accommodation, when it collapsed at around 1.30 pm, a senior officer said.
Several vehicles also came under the rubble as the structure crashed.
Locals claimed that the collection of water over days of rain in the basement had weakened the building’s foundation, leading to its eventual collapse.
Delhi has seen spells of heavy rain since Friday.
A police officer said the structure was nearly 50 years old
Two NDRF teams comprising 70 personnel and a canine squad have been deployed to look for signs of life. Oxygen cylinders were dropped under the rubble for those stuck to breathe, an NDRF officer said. Fire tenders have been stationed at the site.
The area is marked by narrow, congested bylanes lined with eateries and PGs.
Densely packed buildings often leave little room for movement, with locals saying most of the students staying in the locality were from Keralam, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh and study at colleges across the road.
Residents joined the rescuers in their frantic efforts, using their bare hands and whatever tools they could find to search for the buried.
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, Lieutenant Governor Taranjeet Singh Sandhu, Police Commissioner Anurag Kumar, and MP Bansuri Swaraj rushed to the spot after the incident.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah expressed his grief at the deaths.
He said he spoke to the chief minister, the police commissioner, and the NDMA director general for the situation on the ground.
“The injured are being provided with all necessary medical assistance. Praying for the speedy recovery of all those injured,” he wrote on X.
Union Health Minister J P Nadda spoke to Gupta, offering help, official sources said.
The Joint Commissioner of Police, New Delhi Range, DCP Southwest and Additional DCP are supervising the operation, an officer said, adding that the building was known as ‘Hostel Daze’ and its owner is based in Gurugram.
The process to register an FIR is underway, and seven to eight teams are searching for the building’s owner.
“The exact number of persons trapped/injured is still not known at present. Further details will be shared as and when confirmed,” Delhi Police said in a statement said.
Rajen Chhetri, a local who works with the Delhi Police, said the building housed around 15 rooms, with two to three students sharing each room.
“Most of the students staying here are from Keralam, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh and study mainly at Motilal Nehru College, Atma Ram Sanatan Dharm College and Sri Venkateswara College. They were paying around Rs 12,000 per bed,” Chhetri said.
“I have been living here for the last 20 years. Some construction work was going on in the basement, where water had started accumulating. The foundation was also extremely weak,” he added.
An eyewitness said the tragedy could have been much worse had it occurred on a working day, as many students had returned home for the weekend.
“Very few were here,” he said.
The locals also raised concerns over the condition and maintenance of other buildings in the area, where several houses have been converted into PGs.
Priyanka, who has lived in the area for over two decades, said, “Buildings here are being constructed up to five-six floors. Many houses have been converted into boys’ PGs, with the owners shifting elsewhere. They simply name the properties as PGs, take the rent online and leave the area without even checking back.”
She added, “I have not seen any maintenance work ever being carried out. Since it was raining, most of the students were inside rooms, while some had gone home as it was the weekend.”
BJP MLA Anil Sharma, who was at the spot, said, “We are even getting calls from those who are trapped inside.”
The police have advised locals and onlookers to stay away from the site.
Paramilitary has been deployed to ensure unobstructed movement of ambulances.
