Hotel collapse: Toll rises to 10, Shivraj orders magisterial probe

Bhopal: The death toll in Saturday night’s hotel building collapse in the city of Indore mounted to ten with recovery of one more body from the rubble early on Sunday morning. The deceased included two women.

The search and rescue operations, which began nearly half-an-hour after the dilapidated 4-storey building housing a hotel and lodge crashed down after being hit by a speeding car, were called off on Sunday morning.

“Chances of any more persons being trapped under the debris of collapsed structure are very remote,” a member of the state disaster response force (SDRF) deployed in search and rescue operations told this newspaper on Sunday.

Around two dozen people have been rescued alive from the debris. Six of them have suffered injuries. They have been admitted in the local hospital.

A car, several auto rickshaws, bikes and cycles were found buried under the rubble. In a related development, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Sunday ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident. He also announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each to the next kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 each to the injured.

The hotel owner, Dinesh Parwani, is absconding along with his family since the incident, the police said. The building located close to Sarawate bus stand in the city had also hosted four shops and an ATM in the ground floor.

The mangled ATM was removed from the debris and handed over the bank concerned. The local administration has begun a drive to demolish dilapidated buildings in the city following the incident.