Wall collapse leaves 4 dead

Teams from Fire and Emergency Services of Municipal Corporation,who reached the spot,were helped by others labourers working near the site in the rescue effort. All the trapped labourers were rescued and the seven of the injured were rushed to the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH),Sector 32. Three were declared dead on arrival and the one,45-year-old Raju,died later in the hospital. A 20-year-old labourer’s hip bone was fractured and another’s feet was crushed.

The condition of two other patients — Dilchand (20) and Manoj (32) — is said to be stable.

Police said the loose sand made the task of the rescue team difficult. “There was sand all around that kept falling. It seemed the construction work was shoddy. While the site had been dug quite deep,there was no adequate support for it,” the officer said. At one point of time UT Deputy Commissioner Brijendra Singh,who reached the spot,had to ask the rescue team to move away from the site due to loose sand. Additional Deputy Commissioner M L Sharma and Joint Commissioner of Municipal Corporation Kamlesh Kumar were also present at the spot.

Bhumeshwar,who managed to escape unscathed,told Newsline: “All of us had only joined work five days ago. We told the contractor that the wall doesn’t look safe. He ignored our warning and told us to continue working.”

According to him,all his fellow labourers belonged to Katihar in Bihar. He claimed that there were 15 people at the site.

Police said the contractor had fled from the spot and efforts are on to trace him.

“We have registered a case against the contractor,” said Malkit Singh,Station House Officer of Industrial Area police station. The construction work was being carried out by Ahluwalia Construction India Private Limited.