A three-storey under-construction building collapsed in Old Delhi’s Chawri Bazaar area on Thursday morning, killing at least two people and prompting a rescue operation near the Chawri Bazaar Metro station. The collapse was reported around 9.50am from Gali Sitara, a densely built locality in the area.
At least six fire units, including water tenders and rescue vehicles, were sent to the site after the incident was reported, according to officials cited in the report. Rescue operations began as emergency personnel searched the debris for people who may have been trapped.
Senior officers were supervising the operation, officials said. The number of people trapped under the rubble had not been ascertained at the time of the report, and the circumstances that led to the collapse were also not immediately known.
The incident places the focus on the risks associated with construction and building safety in Old Delhi’s tightly packed urban fabric. Gali Sitara is located near the Chawri Bazaar Metro station, where narrow lanes and closely spaced buildings can make access for emergency vehicles and rescue teams more difficult. The available information does not establish whether any construction or building-code violation contributed to the collapse.
The collapse also comes nearly two months after a five-storey building used for paying guest accommodation fell in south Delhi’s Satya Niketan on September 6. That incident killed seven people. The two incidents occurred in different parts of Delhi and involved different building types, but both involved structural failures in occupied or active urban areas, according to the available reports.
The immediate priority at Chawri Bazaar remained search and rescue, with fire units and senior officers at the scene. Further details about the number of people rescued, the identities of those killed, the condition of any injured persons and the findings on the cause of the collapse were not available in the supplied report. Authorities’ next updates are expected to clarify the casualty count, rescue outcome and any inquiry into the building’s construction.
