The death toll in the Seemapuri building collapse in northeast Delhi has risen to five after rescuers recovered the bodies of two more women from the debris, while authorities evacuated nine to 10 nearby buildings because of concerns over their deteriorated condition.
The four-storey building collapsed on Wednesday, trapping residents inside. Three bodies were recovered initially, followed by the bodies of Nusrat, 35, and her maternal aunt Hazra Bibi, 60, later that night and on Thursday. Debris removal and rescue operations were continuing at the site when the report was published.
A three-year-old boy was found alive beneath the rubble, in the lap of his grandmother Salma. The child was taken to Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital with minor injuries and discharged on Thursday morning, according to the report. His mother, Nusrat, was later found dead in the debris.
The child’s aunt, Shahnaz, said the boy remained distressed and was repeatedly crying for his mother. “He is restless and continuously crying for his mother,” she told the media, adding that the family was struggling to explain the death to a three-year-old child.
Nusrat’s husband, 37-year-old Abdul Hasan, said he had left home at around 9 am on Wednesday for his clothing shop at Delhi’s Gole Market. Nusrat, who had undergone surgery around 20 days earlier, and their son were at home at the time. Hasan said he received a call at about 3.30 pm from his brother-in-law Sheikh Noor informing him that the building had collapsed and that family members were trapped.
Hasan reached the site and found that his son and in-laws had survived, but Nusrat was missing. Her body was recovered at around 3.30 am on Thursday. The family had moved into the building only a month earlier because their home, located about 300 metres away, was being rebuilt. Hasan’s father-in-law, Anwar, who was identified as the owner of the collapsed building, had been overseeing that construction work.
According to Sheikh Noor, the child had been on the ground floor with his grandmother when the collapse occurred. Nusrat was reportedly carrying food for her son and was descending from the second floor towards the first floor when the structure gave way.
Hazra Bibi’s body was recovered several hours after Nusrat’s. Her husband, Sheikh Hamid, said she was found holding the keys to her home in her right hand. He said she had locked her house before going to meet Salma, and that the family had not received the keys from the rescue teams. Hamid’s ground-floor home is around 100 metres from the collapsed building.
The evacuation of surrounding buildings is the immediate administrative response reported after the collapse. Rescue personnel continued clearing the debris, while residents were kept away from parts of the site as recovery operations proceeded.
