Woman killed, daughter hospitalised after portion of building collapses in Delhi’s Uttam Nagar

According to DFS officials, the girl suffered minor injuries while the woman was unconscious. Police later confirmed that the woman died shortly after, while receiving treatment.

The police further stated that the building was earlier owned by Poonam’s husband, Neeraj (36). “A woman had purchased the building from Neeraj. Neeraj and his family were supposed to vacate the building by October 20. Today, the woman (the new owner) and her husband were removing a girder when the building partially collapsed. Poonam and her daughter were rescued and sent to a hospital for treatment,” said a senior officer.

According to the DFS, the first call to emergency services came in at 3.10 pm. Five fire-fighting vehicles were rushed to the scene.

Neeraj Kashyap, the person who first called the emergency services, said, “I live in a house on Holi Chowk in Uttam Nagar. I was standing outside my house when the building behind collapsed all of a sudden… at least two and a half floors must have collapsed.”

Officials said further rescue operations are underway. Teams are still checking the debris to determine if other people are still trapped underneath, said police.

No FIR has been filed yet.

On Thursday, a 60-year-old labourer was killed after a concrete pillar crashed inside a basement construction site in Safdarjung Enclave. Police added that five others were also injured after being trapped under debris.

Four fire tenders rushed to the spot, along with police personnel and the Disaster Rescue Team, who began immediate rescue operations.

They found that construction work was underway when a concrete pillar in a corner, along with the surrounding soil, slipped during excavation — causing a portion of the structure to collapse onto the labourers working below.

Delhi has seen a spate of building collapses this year, with at least eight collapses being reported.

The year began with a building collapse in Burari which killed five people and trapped several others for over 30 hours.

In April, an unauthorised four-storey structure in Northeast Delhi’s Dayalpur caved in, killing 11 residents, including children.

The monsoon months saw multiple incidents.

In May, four people died when a wall collapsed in Paharganj and Pul Prahladpur; in June, an eight-year-old boy was killed in Nangloi after a water tank caused a house to crumble.

In July, a two-storey building in Azadpur market and another in Welcome collapsed within days of each other. The collapse in Welcome killed seven members of a single family.

July also saw a mother and son duo die after a decades-old boundary wall collapsed on them in the Civil Lines area.

Later in August, three workers died in a building collapse in Daryaganj. In September, an unsafe and vacant structure fell in Sabzi Mandi, fortunately causing no injuries.

After the Dayalpur collapse in April, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi initiated a city-wide inspection of dangerous buildings. However, by late May, only 37% of the targeted areas had been surveyed.

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