The bodies of three labourers were pulled from the rubble of a wall that collapsed at a construction site in the Vasant Vihar area in the national capital, officials said on Saturday.
“Operation continued for almost 23 hours and dead bodies of three labourers have been recovered,” Deputy Commander, NDRF, Ajit Kumar has been quoted as saying.
Two of them have been identified as Santosh Kumar Yadav (19) and Santosh (38). The third labourer is yet to be identified.
With this, the number of people killed in rain-related incidents in Delhi has gone up to eight.
The under-construction wall collapsed on Friday and the incident was reported to the Delhi Fire Services (DFS) around 5:30 am.
Cranes were used to clear the debris and water was pumped out of the foundation pit to recover the bodies. A search operation is underway to ensure that no one else is trapped under the rubble. Teams of the National Disaster Response Force, Delhi Disaster Management Authority and civic agencies are carrying out the operation, the officials said.
Five people died in rain-related incidents on Friday as the monsoon arrived with a fury, lashing the city with its highest rainfall in a single day of June in 88 years.
The deceased included a cab driver who died after a portion of a canopy at the Delhi airport collapsed, a 39-year-old man who was electrocuted in Rohini's Prem Nagar area and three people who drowned in New Usmanpur and Shalimar Bagh.
Terminal inaugurated by Modi intact, says minister Ram Mohan Naidu
Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu hit out at the opposition for politicising the incident of canopy collapse at Delhi airport T-1 saying the roof of the building that collapsed is an old building inaugurated in 2009.
"Sadly, a life was lost in the incident; we will be giving Rs 20 lakh ex-gratia to the family of the victim. All injured will get Rs 3 lakhs each. I am a little surprised that the opposition wants to do politics on this kind of issue by saying this is a terminal inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi Modi, but it is fake news they are spreading. PM Modi inaugurated a building in another terminal and it is intact. The roof of the building that collapsed is an old building inaugurated in 2009.”
Noting that the building that collapsed is 15 years old he said using this situation to take a dig at the government is not a good precedent.
Calling the incident “very tragic” he said the government has taken control over the situation.
“Terminal-1 is completely closed, all the flight movements have been shifted to T-2 and T-3. For those people whose flights have been cancelled, they are being given either a refund or an alternate flight. We will pass a circular to provide refunds to the people within seven days. We have set up war rooms at T-2 and T-3,” the minister said.
He said the government has issued a circular to airlines directing them not to increase airfares. “We don't want a similar incident to happen again so we have brought in a special team from IIT Delhi's structural department. They will give an initial inspection report; based on that necessary action will be taken. To ensure that we are getting a structural preliminary inspection done at all airports, we have sought a report from all the airports across the country within two to five days."
