BENGALURU: Three workers were killed after an under-construction multi-storeyed building collapsed at Anjanadri Layout in Babusab Palya near Hennur on Tuesday. The building reportedly collapsed due to heavy rains in the city over the last four days.
Sources said that 15 workers were still trapped under debris. Firefighters and local police have rushed to the spot and are carrying out rescue operations. The bodies of the three dear were recovered. It is suspected that many people are trapped under the debris.
It is said that the workers were working despite the rain. Local MLA Byrathi Basavaraj and senior officials visited the place. The MLA said the incident occurred around 4 pm. “One person is confirmed dead, and three others are critically injured. Nineteen people were working at the site, and eleven have been rescued so far. All workers are from North India”, he said earlier.
Basavaraj added that poor construction quality led to the building’s collapse. He said he will oversee rescue operations throughout the night to save lives. Heavy machinery, including cranes and excavators were used to clear the debris, retrieve the bodies of the dead and rescue those trapped.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Devaraja earlier said that fourteen people have been taken out so far from debris, two have died. “There is information about seven or eight more people trapped under debris. It is said that there were more than twenty people. The labourers are from North Indians”, he added.
“A total of 20 people were there. Seven of our workers were on site, and one of them has died. The building collapsed due to heavy rainfall. It was a seven-story building. Three others have been injured and hospitalized,” said an eyewitness.
“We are labourers working here. When we were on a lunch break at around 1.00 pm, we heard a loud sound, and the building started shaking. A man who was working inside the building died on the spot,” another eyewitness, Mehfoos, recounted. More details are awaited.