Building under construction gave way in India killing 4 students and their teacher

4 students and their teacher were reported dead after a building partially collapsed in New Delhi, India's capital city.

The 3-story building is located in the Bhajanpura region in northeast Delhi. It was under construction when its top floor gave way on January 25, 2020. 

Inside the structure, teaching classes were held and attended by about 30 students. The third floor of the building collapsed and trapped the students under the rubble. Unfortunately, 4 children from 6 to 14 years old and their 35-year-old teacher were reported dead. 13 more people were injured due to the incident. 

The tuition center offered classes for children after school. The teacher was also one of the owners of the building. The tragic incident is under investigation. "During the investigation, it was revealed that a tuition center was being run in the building. Suddenly, its roof collapsed and all the students were trapped under the debris," Ved Prakash Surya, Deputy Commissioner of Police, stated.

The Police are examining whether the tuition center and the building had obtained the necessary permits. The other owner of the structure was the teacher's brother and a case has been registered for causing fatalities due to negligence.

The collapse was followed by a rescue operation conducted by the Fire Department that sent 7 fire trucks to the scene. Approaching the structure was challenging due to the narrow lanes that exist in the neighborhood. This is the reason why many victims were saved by locals that initiated a rescue effort before the arrival of the firefighters. Locals reached the building through the roof of an adjacent structure. “Before fire-fighters or rescuers could arrive, we pulled out as many children we could. The rescue teams arrived in around 20 minutes and started digging out the debris to pull out the victims,” Mohammad Asif, a local whose cousin was injured during the failure, explained.

According to a firefighter, who participated in the rescue efforts, the classes were normally held on both the first and the second floor of the building. However, on the day of the failure, all courses were conducted in just one room on the second floor as the first floor was under renovation.

In total, 8 people were taken to the hospital with 4 of them finally staying alive. "A total of eight people were brought to the hospital, of them four were dead when they reached here. The others have minor injuries — blunt injuries and some soft tissue injuries. They have kept under observation at the hospital,” Dr. Adarsh Kumar, medical superintendent of the hospital, said.

Anil Baijal, Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, sent his condolences to the families of the victims and asked officials to provide help to the injured victims. "Deeply saddened to learn of the tragic deaths including those of innocent children during the building collapse in Bhajanpura, East Delhi. May God give strength to their family and loved ones to deal with this tragedy. Have directed all concerned to provide all possible support for the speedy recovery of the injured," Baijal wrote on Twitter.