25-year-old building falls, seepage weakened base
four-storey building collapsed in east Delhi’s Laxmi Nagar area on Sunday morning, injuring at least five people.
Police said that the building that collapsed was located at G Block near a Metro pillar and there were no casualties in the incident.
The injured had been shifted to a hospital for treatment.
The owner of the building Mohan Sharma said the structure was around 25 years old. He said that he lived with his family in the building, which also houses six offices and some shops.
Rohit (who goes by just one name), a local resident who lives in a nearby building and had a close shave, said, “Around 2am, I heard loud sounds that sounded like the cracking of glasses. I rushed out to see what was happening. In six to seven seconds, the whole building collapsed.”
“This building was more than 25 years old and was in a dilapidated condition. The neighbours had even complained to the east corporation a few months ago warning that it might collapse due to lack of maintenance. But no action was taken,” he said.
People living in the neighbourhood said that the damage would have been more if the incident had happened during the day or on weekdays as the building was located on the main road in Vikas Marg.
One of the injured Balkar Singh’s arm was fractured, while the others sustained minor injuries. All other residents escaped unhurt.
Fire officials said that the building might have collapsed because of the continuous downpour over the weekend causing seepage in the basement. They said eight police teams, five fire tenders, an excavator and an emergency response team were sent to the spot after they received a call about the building collapse at around 1.34am.