One killed, 5 injured as 3-storey building collapses in Ahmedabad

Hitendra Makwana, deputy town development officer of the west zone of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, said, “The reason for the building collapse is unspecified but the building was very old…”

Notably, the building was not marked as dilapidated or dangerous by the civic body.

“No notice was issued (under the Gujarat Provincial Municipal Corporations Act) to that particular building as sometimes the buildings look good from the outside but they are damaged internally. However, we issued (generic) repair warnings through the newspapers just before the monsoon,” added Makwana.

Jayesh Khadia, in-charge chief fire officer of Ahmedabad Fire Emergency Service (AFES), said, “The incident was reported at around 7 am, and the building was around 60 years old. We immediately rushed to the place with an ambulance and safety teams. Our teams detected an LPG cylinder leakage at the site, so we sprayed water and removed the cylinder. There were six people in the building, and five of them sustained minor injuries and were rescued by the fire department while one died on the spot.”

Adjoining buildings also suffered damages, including parts of a house that shared a common wall with the collapsed building.

Sunil Manojbhai Dantaiya, a neighbour, said, “We complained to the house owner to fix the issues, but he did not respond. The building was in a terrible state. Our refrigerator, AC, television, and utensils, among others, have been damaged in the incident.”

Meanwhile, local Ellisbridge BJP MLA Amit Shah tweeted that he along with Navrangpura ward corporator Vandanaben Shah visited the site of the house collapse.