A four-storey building collapsed beside the Kadimi Eidgah ground in New Seemapuri, Northeast Delhi, killing four people and injuring eight, after residents had raised concerns about additional construction and the condition of the structure, according to police, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and local residents.
The building began to give way at around 3.15 pm on Wednesday as children were playing at the adjoining ground. Neighbours said 60-year-old Hazra Bibi tried to warn the children, including her 17-year-old grandson, and pushed a relative out of the structure’s path. She was later found dead beneath the debris, still holding the keys to her locked house.
The other people killed were identified in the report as Nusrat, who had travelled from Uttar Pradesh to visit her ailing mother, and Ghulafsa, 21, who was around four months pregnant and had been sitting near the entrance with her four-year-old daughter. The child was also killed. Police said body parts had been recovered from the debris and that identification was pending through DNA examination.
A three-year-old boy, Abdaan, was found trapped on the ground floor with his grandmother, Salma. Neighbours rescued both of them, and the boy was taken to hospital with minor leg injuries before being discharged. Other injured people included Sakina, 35, who suffered serious facial and head injuries; her husband, a scrap worker; a mason working on the structure; and Devruddin Mirja, who sustained head injuries.
The MCD described the property as a ground-plus-three-floor building in a jhuggi jhopri area on about 25 square yards of land belonging to the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board. The civic body said the structure was around 20 to 25 years old. Residents, however, alleged that heavy concrete slabs had been added in recent months, taking the building to four or five floors without adequately strengthening its foundation.
Residents also said construction and demolition work was under way in the adjoining building, where heavy drilling and vibrating machinery had been used along the shared wall. They alleged that MCD officials and police had visited the site about a month earlier after complaints about the construction and the building’s condition. According to residents, officials inspected the newly added slabs and accepted the owner’s assurance that the building was safe, but did not assess the older unreinforced foundation. The MCD’s response to these allegations was awaited.
The collapse has also left surviving tenants without homes, documents and belongings. Muslima Bibi, 27, who paid Rs 3,000 a month for a room on the third floor, said her five-year-old son was found alive in a corner of the room. She said cash, gas cylinders, household possessions and identity documents belonging to her children remained buried under the rubble. Her husband, who works in scrap and labour, was away in Bengaluru.
Police said a case had been registered under relevant sections and that the owner, identified as Anwar, was on the run. Rescue teams continued clearing the debris while authorities worked to identify recovered remains and account for those affected.
