4 minor students among 5 dead in Bhajanpura building collapse

New Delhi: In a tragic incident, five people including four students died and eight people were injured when a four-storey building of an under construction coaching centre collapsed in Northeast Delhi’s Bhajanpura area on Saturday evening.

Officials said that around 30 students were attending classes at the coaching centre when the upper two floors of the four-storey building collapsed trapping the students under its debris.

The deceased have been identified as Umesh (30), Deeshu (14), Krishna (9), Farhan (6) and Kirti (10) who were declared brought dead by the doctors at the Guru Teg Bahadur (GTB) hospital. Officials said that the coaching centre was being run by Shankar.

One of the deceased, Umesh, who owned the building, was Shankar’s younger brother.

Taking note of the incident, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted: “Receiving bad news from Bhajanpura. Praying to God for everyone’s safety. I will reach the spot soon.”

According to a senior Delhi Fire Services (DFS) official, the call regarding the incident was received at around 4.30 pm following which seven fire tenders were rushed to the spot.

“The fourth floor of the building was under construction and did not have a roof when suddenly the upper two floors of the building collapsed. The students were in the classes, which were going on in the second and first floor of the building. There were 30 students who were in the coaching centre at the time of the incident,” said the senior DFS official.

Some of the students were rescued by locals while 13 people, including students, were rescued by the fire department and the police.

They were rushed to the GTB hospital, where four were declared brought dead while eight students are still undergoing treatment and some of them are in critical condition, said a DFS official.

The coaching centre was being run here by Shankar, his wife, and his younger brother Umesh for the last eight years, said local residents.

Arif Sultan, the father of deceased Farhan, said that his son was studying on the second floor along with 10 to 15 other students.

“My daughter, who is in Class 8, called and informed me about the incident. I rushed to the spot. I climbed up the stairs and took out my child myself from the debris after around one-and-a-half hour. He was not breathing. We took him to the hospital where he was declared brought dead,” said Mr Arif in a hushed tone.  

According to neighbour Harish, before the fire department and police personnel arrived the locals removed the debris and saved several students.