2 BUILDINGS COLLAPSE IN AMRITSAR, 4 DEAD
AMRITSAR: THREE persons, including an eight-year-old girl, died when a three-storeyed building collapsed amid incessant rain in Amritsar in the wee hours of Friday. The incident occurred in the Kot Baba Deep Singh locality on the Sultanwind Road about 2.30am. Three residents of the building, reportedly owned by a local Congress leader, had a narrow escape. Made of wooden sticks, the roof of the top floor of the building was in dilapidated condition and could not withstand the incessant rain.
“Raman Kumar Sunny, 35, his daughter and their tenant Lal Singh, 85, were killed on the spot. Sunny’s wife and son escaped. They were living on the second floor. Another tenant living with Lal had a narrow escape,” station house officer Narinder Singh said.
When the roof collapsed, the entire building turned into a pile of debris. The couple living on the top floor told said they rushed out of the house, as soon as they had a sensation that the building might collapse. Within seconds of them coming out, the building collapsed.
Amritsar MP Gurjit Singh Aujla also visited the site and met families who escaped. He assured them help of rehabilitation.
There was another building collapse in Amritsar’s Walled City portion on Thursday night. Fire brigade personnel rescued the lone resident, an elderly woman. The area has several old buildings that are unsafe for occupation and incidents of building collapse happen here, whenever the city sees incessant rain.
39-YEAR-OLD LAHORI GATE RESIDENT BECOMES 4TH VICTIM
A 39-year-old man, Raj Khosla, of Lahori Gate, died after another building collapsed due to incessant rain in Amritsar on Friday. Khosla, who worked at a private hospital, was a friend of Sunny, who had died earlier on Friday in building collapse at Sultanwind Road.
“After attending the funeral of Sunny, Raj visited another of his friends at a shop near Amandeep Hospital, when the building collapsed. He died on the spot, while his friend was rescued by people and was admitted to a hospital for treatment,” police sources said.