10 killed in Indore hotel collapse

At least 10 people were killed and two seriously injured when a four-storeyed rickety hotel building collapsed here after a car crashed into it, a police officer said on Sunday.

Deputy Inspector General Hari Narayan Chari Mishra told IANS that the MS Hotel near the crowded Sarvate bus stand collapsed on Saturday night. Search and rescue operations were going on, he added.

The state government has announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each for the kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 for those injured.

The area was crowded on account of the Sunday holiday. The dilapidated structure, said to have been 80 years old, came crashing down in seconds after a car hit it, burying the people staying in the hotel, some passersby and the shops under the rubble.

District Collector Nishant Warwade told the media that the district administration, municipal corporation, police, fire brigade and traffic police were carrying out a joint search and rescue operation. They have also called a unit of the National Disaster Response Force from Bhopal to help.

Kiran Soni, daughter of hotel manager Harish Soni who died in the collapse, told journalists that the hotel's roof had crashed last week. The owner was informed but he ignored it.

--IANS

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