6 of family dead, 8 injured in Delhi building collapse

New Delhi | Six members of a family, including a two-year-old girl, died, while eight others were injured after a four-storey building collapsed in northeast Delhi's Welcome area early Saturday, an official said.

The deceased were identified as Abdul Matloob, 50, the owner of the building, his wife Rabia, 46, two sons Javed, 23, and Abdulla, 15, daughter Zubia, 27, and a two-year-old granddaughter Fozia. Their bodies were pulled from the debris and sent to the GTB Hospital, a senior police officer said.

Matloob's two other sons -- Parvez, 32, and Naved, 19 -- Parvez's wife Siza, 21 and their one-year-old son Ahmad, were among the injured.

Four residents of the opposite building -- Govind, 60, his wife Deepa, 56, brother Ravi Kashyap, 27, and his wife Jyoti, 27 -- also sustained injuries after debris struck their house.

Naseem Ahmed, a family friend of the deceased, told PTI, "While Parvez is still getting treated, he has no idea about the deaths of his family members. This is a huge blow for him. They were very nice people. This shouldn't have happened".

He said all family members except Matloob had returned from Jaipur last evening after visiting his recently married youngest daughter.

The family, which runs a dry cleaning business, had moved to the 20-year-old building a few months ago, after their previous house in Gautampuri caught fire in February, he said.

"They had narrowly escaped the fire, but all the things they had bought for the younger daughter's marriage were reduced to ashes," Ahmed said.

Meanwhile, the moment they heard that a building had collapsed in their area, several locals rushed to the site and hunkered down to clean the rubble with their hands in the hope of rescuing its occupants.

According to the residents, the building housed an anganwadi on its ground floor, which was fortunately closed at the time of the collapse. While they mourned the deaths, several of them expressed relief that the incident did not occur during anganwadi hours as around 25 children typically attend the centre daily.

"Several kids from the neighbourhood came there regularly," Zeeshan, a close friend of Javed and Parvez, said.

A senior police officer said they received information about the incident at 7.04 am, and when a police team reached the spot, they found that three storeys of the building had collapsed.

"So far, eight injured persons have been rescued -- seven have been shifted to JPC Hospital and one to GTB Hospital for treatment," he said.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northeast) Sandeep Lamba said, "The owner of the building, Matloob, lived in the building with his family members. The building opposite also sustained damage."

The building collapsed when locals were out on their morning walks, many of whom acted as first responders and began trying to rescue those trapped before fire officials arrived at the spot.

Seven fire tenders rushed to the site at Gali No. 5 at Janta Colony close to Idgah road in Seelampur for rescue operations, Delhi Fire Service chief Atul Garg said.

Asma, who lives in the neighbourhood, told PTI, "Around 7 am, I was in my house when I heard a loud noise and there was dust all over. When I came down, I saw that our neighbour's home had collapsed."

"We don't know how many are trapped, but a family of 10 people lives there," she said.

Northeast Delhi MP Manoj Tiwari in a post on X said, "A tragic incident has occurred in the JJ Cluster area of Welcome, located in the Seelampur Assembly segment of our Lok Sabha constituency, where a three-storey building has collapsed. The NDRF has reached the spot and is engaged in the rescue operation."

"As the area is very congested, we request everyone to avoid entering the lanes until the operation is complete. Senior officials are present at the site," he posted. Police said that legal action has been initiated and an investigation has been launched.