4 people killed, 14 injured as building with a factory collapses in Delhi’s Karol Bagh

A factory that made shoes for women ran from the collapsed building. Around 20 migrant labourers, who worked in the factory, stayed in the same building. Most of them were asleep when it came crashing, said neighbours.

The Delhi Fire Services (DFS) reached the scene and joined the rescue operation. Later, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) was also called in.

By the end of a seven-hour-long operation that ended at 5.30 pm, 18 people were pulled out. “Since the lanes leading to the spot were very narrow, the rescue operation was tricky…,” said S K Dua, DFS Deputy Chief, earlier in the day. He said 50-60 firemen from around seven stations were involved in the operation.

The injured were rushed to Ram Manohar Lohia and Lady Hardinge hospitals. Of them, three workers — Muqeem (25), Mujib (18), and Mosin (26) — and Aman (12), who came to visit them, succumbed to injuries. They were from Khatnagar village, Rampur district, UP. By evening, one person was discharged, 11 others were undergoing treatment and two were in critical condition.

In the building next door, where around 8-9 people lived, a woman and her nephew were injured when the second floor collapsed. The reason for the collapse is yet to be ascertained. “The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has been asked to clear the affected area as rescue operations have ended,” said DCP (Central) M Harsh Vardhan.

An MCD official said the area falls under a ‘special area’ category under the Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act, 2006. “The building was not found in a dangerous condition during the pre-monsoon survey done by the Maintenance Department. Neither any new construction was being done nor any building material was found around the collapsed premises,” said the official. The building does not have a building plan but is regularised.

Police filed a case under sections 106 (death by negligence) and 290 (negligent conduct with respect to pulling down, repairing, or constructing buildings, etc.) of the BNS.

Delhi chief minister-designate Atishi, who visited the injured at RML Hospital, said the Delhi government would provide financial assistance of Rs 10 lakh to families of the dead. “I am in touch with the Mayor… Legal action will be taken against the building owner… strict action will also be taken against the building department and other officials concerned whose responsibility was to ensure if building bylaws were followed or not,” she said.

She said a magisterial inquiry was ordered into the incident in a post on X.

New Delhi MP Bansuri Swaraj also went to RML hospital to meet the injured. Questioning the delay in conducting the MCD’s dangerous buildings survey, Delhi BJP  spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor held the mayor responsible for the loss of life. “I had been urging the Mayor to order a survey of dangerous buildings… but she didn’t,” he alleged.