New Delhi, May 18 (IANS) Three persons died while one person suffered injuries after a building under construction collapsed in the Paharganj area of the national capital, officials said.

Rescue teams are actively carrying out the search and rescue operations at the site. Four fire tenders were dispatched to the location immediately.

According to officials, the incident occurred on Saturday evening near Krishna Hotel on Ara Kansa Road, where the side wall of an under-construction basement gave way.

Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta expressed grief over the loss of lives and ordered a probe into the incident, assuring that strict action will be ensured against the culprits.

“May God grant peace to the departed souls and give strength to the bereaved families to bear this irreparable loss,” she posted on Saturday evening on X.

Chief Minister Gupta has expressed condolences over the death of three people following the collapse of an under-construction building in Delhi’s Paharganj area and instructed the officials to provide all necessary support to the family of the deceased and injured.

The Chief Minister’s Office wrote on X: “A unfortunate basement wall collapse was reported at an under-construction building in Paharganj. It has claimed three precious lives & leaves one seriously injured. Central Delhi District Magistrate, Karol Bagh SDM, MCD & Delhi Police officials visited the incident site.”

“Rescue operations were carried out by Delhi fire Service & NDRF personnel. Central Delhi DM has been directed to provide all assistance and help to the next of kin of the deceased and injured. Our thoughts are with the families of deceased,” the post added.

According to the officials, two of the deceased were from Bihar and one from Uttar Pradesh.

Prabhu (65), Niranjan (40), and Roshan (35) were killed in the incident while Chuttan (35) was admitted to the hospital with injuries.

Prabhu was the contractor while the other two deceased were the workers hired by him.

Earlier, Assistant Divisional Officer (ADO) of Delhi Fire Service, Manish Kumar, said that the fire station in Connaught Place was able to respond first to the incident.

NDRF officials also brought in a dog squad to help with searching through the rubble at the site.

In a separate incident which occurred last month on April 19, a building collapse in Mustafabad area of Delhi claimed 11 lives.

–IANS

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