Greater Noida building collapse: NDRF carries out rescue operations, two bodies retrieved

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After four hours of search and rescue operations, NDRF teams managed to locate and retrieve one body from the rubble. The identity of the body has not been established yet. (Express Photo by Nishant Shekhar)

He also stated that he made a PCR call at 9.20 pm and the police reached after 15 minutes. Later National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) was called for rescue.

Another eyewitness who was present at the time of collapse said that one person was trapped in debris and flashed torchlight, however, they could not rescue him out of fear. S K Upadhyay, who stays in the nearby building said, “This incident has scared us…I own a flat and I bought it for Rs 29 lakh a year back…I dont know if my building is safe. There should be a safety audit done by the authorities.”

The witnesses also revealed that many construction workers who lived in both the buildings and are feared trapped. (Express photo by Gajendra Yadav)

Commandant P K Srivastav, NDRF said that four teams are present at the rescue site. “Our first priority is to search for any alive person inside the debris, but the pattern in very unstable. There are chances of further collapse. Initially we sent a sniffer dog and we were able to get two bodies out…Now our workers are looking at it manually,” he said.

He informed that heavy machinery is being used to remove the debris. Some of the types of machinery include:

* Chipping hammer to chip the debris

* Rotary saw which has blades to cut concrete slabs and RCCs.

* Bolt Cutters to cut steel inside the debris

* Hydraulic Lifters to lift

*Reciprocal Saw

*Rescue Radar it detects the heartbeat

The rescue operations were still in progress at the time this report was filed. To keep track of the latest developments click here- LIVE UPDATES.