A five-storey building came crashing down in Delhi's Satya Niketan area on Sunday afternoon, trapping several residents under the rubble. One person has died in the collapse, while three others are said to be in critical condition. Six people have been pulled out of the debris and rushed to hospital so far, and three of the injured have been referred to the AIIMS Trauma Centre for treatment. Rescue teams are still working through the debris at the site. Locals say the building housed a students' PG, and because Sunday is a holiday, most of the students were inside their rooms when the structure collapsed.
CM Rekha Gupta rushes to the spot, voices shock over the collapse
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta first reacted on X as soon as she learned of the collapse, and later visited the site in person to review the rescue operation. In her post on X, she said she was "deeply disturbed by the building collapse in Satya Niketan, RK Puram." She said teams from the DDMA, NDRF, Delhi Fire Services, Delhi Police, the MCD, CATS and Civil Defence were working on a war footing to carry out the rescue operation. As a precaution, a neighbouring building was also evacuated to prevent any further mishap. The Chief Minister said every effort was being made to safely rescue those trapped and to get immediate help to affected families, adding that the situation was being closely monitored and that all agencies were working in coordination.
Eight fire tenders and multiple rescue teams pressed into action
A Delhi Fire Service official said eight fire tenders, along with rescue teams from several other departments, were dispatched to the spot as soon as word of the collapse came in. Police personnel also reached the site quickly and cordoned off the area to keep the space clear for rescue work. Emergency responders began searching for people trapped under the debris soon after arriving. Nearby residents and bystanders also joined the rescue effort without waiting for equipment, using their bare hands and whatever tools were available to clear rubble in the hope of finding survivors. The fire department had received word of the collapse around 1:30 pm on Sunday. The spot where the building came down is understood to be close to Delhi's Moti Bagh locality.
A 40-50-year-old structure, basement repairs underway when it fell
Delhi Police said a preliminary, on-ground inquiry found that the building was between 40 and 50 years old, built with a basement and five floors above it, and that the entire structure was being run as a students' PG. According to police, repair work was underway in the basement at the time the building collapsed, a detail now seen as a possible factor behind the disaster. Six people have so far been rescued and admitted to hospital, and the search and rescue operation is continuing.
Building linked to two brothers from Gurugram, notice issued a month earlier
Police are now trying to trace the building's owners. According to information that has emerged, the building belonged to Hariom Bansal and his brother Anand Bansal, both residents of Gurugram who run three to four PGs in the city. Eyewitnesses said construction or repair work had been going on in the basement for some time, and that a notice concerning it had been issued about a month earlier. The same eyewitnesses said the building had once been fully vacated around a year ago, but that a PG had been reopened there just two months before the collapse. Visuals from the scene showed a man's leg trapped under the rubble, with firefighters working to clear debris around him to pull him free.
The PG was known as 'Hostel Days'
Local residents said the building that collapsed was called 'Hostel Days,' a five-storey PG meant specifically for male students. A building right next to it also came down in the collapse. Students who were inside their rooms at the time were all buried under the debris. Because it was a Sunday, with colleges and coaching centres closed, a large number of students were staying in rather than heading out, which meant far more of them were caught in the collapse than on a normal weekday.
