New Delhi: Fifty-five people were killed and over 90 injured after a four-storey building collapsed in a busy east Delhi locaclity on Monday night.
The building, which housed 200 people, caved in at around 8.15 pm in the congested Lalita Park area of Laxmi Nagar. Some 60 people were rescued from the building but scores of others are still feared to be trapped. It's over 12 hours since the collapse and the rescue work is still on.
According to reports, the foundation of the building had weakened due to water having seeped in during the monsoon when the Yamuna had breached its banks.
The injured were taken to three government hospitals where the death toll kept rising through the night. At the LNJP hospital where the maximum number of people were brought in dead, there was a sense of complete disbelief at what had happened. Through the night, ambulances carting the dead and the injured came in and doctors said that even though they were trying their best, the death toll was likely to go up.
At Lalita Nagar, the anger spilled over on the streets. Even as the owner of this building went missing, residents said it was a tragedy waiting to happen.
People said that the building collapsed when an attempt was being made to build extra floors. What's even more frightening is that there are several other illegal constructions like this in the area that could follow this disaster.
Meanwhile, a magisterial inquiry has been ordered into the incident, Delhi government officials said.
"The scale of the tragedy is unprecedented. I don't think such a tragedy has taken place in Delhi in the recent past," Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said.
Dikshit said it seems to be a "case of negligence" as the accumulated water in the basement for more than two months since the monsoon was not removed.
She said it will have to be inquired if it was an unauthorised construction and that appropriate action will be taken if any wrongdoing is found.
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