5 rescued after building undergoing renovation collapses in Delhi

New Delhi, Apr 25 (PTI) Rescue workers pulled out five labourers who were trapped for over three hours under the rubble of a house that collapsed in south Delhi's Satya Niketan area on Monday, fire officials said.

The three-storey house was undergoing renovation when it collapsed, they said.

Director of Delhi Fire Services Atul Garg said all the five labourers who were trapped under the debris have been rescued and rushed to a hospital for treatment. The rescue operation has ended.

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) pressed its sniffer dogs into service to search for survivors.

Earlier, Garg said, "We received a call around 1:24 pm about a house collapse in Satya Niketan building number 173 here. Six fire tenders have been rushed to the spot." Since this building is in a congested area, the main challenge was to take the rescue vehicles inside. It was a difficult task, he said.

A police team is also at the spot.

"Our priority is to rescue the trapped men. My team and I are at the spot and helping the other agencies with the rescue operation," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southwest) Manoj C said earlier.

A senior fire official said according to preliminary inquiry, it seems that the building was not in a good condition to undergo renovation.

"This was an old building and it was not in a good condition to undergo renovation. We have got to know through local inquiry that the said building was being renovated to convert it into a PG accommodation. So, they must have broken some structure for this purpose which led to the collapse," he said.

"Since renovation was underway, no one was living in the building. It has also been found that there was no proper building plan. It was not a planned construction and was also not approved by the concerned authorities," he said.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal termed the incident "very sad" and said he is monitoring the rescue operation.

"This accident (building collapse) is very sad. The district administration is engaged in relief and rescue work. I myself am taking every information related to the incident," he tweeted in Hindi.