Two dead, dozens trapped in Karnataka building collapse
Rescue teams and ambulances scramble to Dharwad district, roughly 700 kilometres northwest of Bangalore, where the five-floor under-construction building crumbled
At least two people have died and dozens are feared trapped under rubble ater a building site collapsed on Tuesday in India’s southern Karnataka state, officials said.
Rescue teams and ambulances were scrambling to Dharwad district, roughly 700 kilometres northwest of the state capital Bangalore, where the five-floor under-construction building crumbled.
A thick blanket of dust and debris engulfed the area ater the five-storey building collapsed.
Desperate family members rushed to the spot searching for loved ones trapped in the rubble.
“Two people have been killed in the collapse. We have pressed in men and machines to rescue those trapped,” Srikant, the district’s regional fire and emergency officer, who gave just one name, told AFP
Nagesh D.L., the district’s deputy commissioner of police, said 27 people had been recovered from the rubble and taken to hospital,
Rescue operations were expected to continue throughout the night.
“We think there are still many people alive (underneath). The police still don’t have a clear idea... some locals say it is around 15, and some others have said it is over 50,” he told reporters.
Another regional emergency official said as many as 152 people were believed trapped beneath the rubble.
While locals joined in to help with the rescue efforts, police said that the national disaster response force team has also been drated in.
Hospitals in the district have been placed on alert and 20 ambulances sent to the accident site, said Dharwad’s top medical officer Giridhar Kokinad.
Building collapses are frequent in India, with a string of accidents reported in recent years.
Critics say many private builders use inferior construction material to cut corners on costs or bribe officials to bypass regulations.
Last September five people were killed ater an apartment block collapsed in Delhi. Just months earlier a six-storey building collapsed on the outskirts of the capital, killing nine.
Millions also live in dilapidated old buildings, many of which are susceptible to collapse during rain.
Recently, four people were killed and dozens injured when a footbridge collapsed near Mumbai’s main train station, the latest accident to highlight creaking infrastructure in India’s financial capital.
The bridge, which was under repair according to multiple Indian media reports, gave way around 7.30pm (1400 GMT) as rush hour commuters made their way into Chhatrapati Shivaji terminus.
“Twenty-eight people were injured when the bridge collapsed. Four of those taken to hospitals have succumbed to their injuries,” Tanaji Kamble, a spokesman for the local civic authority’s disaster management cell, said.
India’s National Disaster Response Force said it had sent a team to the site over fears that people may be trapped under rubble.
The accident comes almost two years ater 23 people died in a crush on a narrow overcrowded footbridge at Prabhadevi station in the centre of the city in September 2017.
Indian railway officials blamed bad weather for causing the deadly stampede despite commuter warnings before the tragedy of a disaster waiting to happen.
Experts pointed the finger of blame at the railway network’s creaking infrastructure, which has long struggled to cope with several million daily passengers.
Some 7.5 million passengers commute in nearly 2,500 trains daily on Mumbai’s colonial-era rail network, a lifeline for the city’s 20 million residents.
Travelling on it is not without its dangers, however.
An average of almost 10 people die on the suburban railway every day, either from falling off crowded trains or while crossing the tracks.
Commuters say investment in the railway’s crumbling infrastructure has not kept up with the city’s burgeoning population.
Last Wednesday, four persons were injured ater a scaffolding erected for the construction of a major bridge in Goa across the Zuari river collapsed, an official said.
The incident occurred in the aternoon when the metal scaffolding supporting a concrete slab collapsed, injuring the workers at site.
“Four workers have sustained minor injuries and have been hospitalised. A probe has been initiated,” a South Goa district administration spokesperson said.