Lodhi Crematorium wall collapse: As a labourer dies, a family loses its home

Three PWD labourers got trapped under the debris, said DCP II Jasbir Singh. Among them, while a person identified as Devendra was declared dead at AIIMS Trauma Centre, other labourers – Rajesh (48) and Umar (20) – are under treatment, said police.

Police, fire department and ambulance personnel carried out a joint rescue operation before securing the site.
For 67-year-old Bhagwan Das, a security guard at the crematorium, the sounds of the collapse remain vivid. Das had been staying at Rahul’s quarters while the latter was away.

“Every day, after 9 pm, excavation work had been happening for the past week,” Das said.

“I heard a loud noise and screams. I woke up abruptly to find that an entire wall had disappeared and people were trapped under the debris,” he said.

Rahul, meanwhile, who had just returned from Gorakhpur, emerged carrying a few utensils and a child’s bicycle – remnants of the home his family had occupied for five years.