3 women dead, 10 injured as building collapses in West Delhi

Three women were killed tonight and ten injured seriously when a four-storey building collapsed in a narrow lane in Vishnu Garden area of West Delhi.

About five-six people were feared trapped under the debris of the building, police said.

"Two people (women) who were taken to hospital have died. Ten persons sustained serious injuries and they were rushed to nearby hospitals," Dipendra Pathak, Joint Commissioner of Police, West Delhi Range, told PTI.

Police confirmed that the two who died were women, and added that the body of one more woman was lying under the roof of the building. Rescuers were trying to take her body out.

Eight fire tenders, teams of National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF), local police and officials from district administration are carrying out rescue operations at the site of the building collapse at C Block near Masjid Khayala area.

A senior official of Fire Department said "we received a call about the building collapse at 9.07 pm and immediately eight fire tenders were rushed to the spot to rescue the affected people. It is a four-storey building and many people were feared trapped."

DCP of West Delhi Pushpendra Kumar said NDRF, local police and civil administration were carrying out rescue operations.

"2 NDRF teams from Ghaziabad, with about 30 men in each, have been rushed to the spot," a senior NDRF official said.

Delhi Fire Department Chief A K Sharma said all concerned agencies are working together to rescue those trapped under the debris.

He said that the narrow passage leading to the collapsed building made it difficult for rescue teams to take their equipment to the site.

An official said that the building caved in as digging was going on at an adjacent plot for construction of a new structure.

A large number of crowd that gathered at the spot hampered rescue operations, officials said.