New Delhi, Nov. 5 -- A loud crash reverberated through a crammed neighbourhood in Old Delhi's Chawri Bazar on Thursday morning. Rushing out of their homes, residents -- some jolted awake by the sound and others preparing to leave for work -- saw that a three-storey building which was coming up in the locality had collapsed, trapping several labourers under the debris.

It sounded like some heavy machinery had burst, a resident recalled. "It was a very loud bang. People who usually wake up around 11 am were jolted awake by the noise. At first, we thought some heavy machinery had burst, but then we realised that a building had collapsed," said 60-year-old Md Irshad.

A three-storey building which was under construction in Gali Sitara near Chawri Bazar metro station collapsed around 9.50 am, killing at least two people, with a rescue operation underway to pull out those buried under the rubble of twisted wires, pylons and concrete slabs, police said.

Residents said the structure came down in stages, with the upper floor collapsing first and the remaining floors giving way over the next half an hour.

"The third-floor slab fell first. Then, after some time, the other slabs came down," a resident said, describing the sequence of the collapse. The staggered fall, residents said, meant that some workers were able to get out before the entire structure came down.

Immediately after the incident, locals gathered at the site and began trying to clear the rubble with their hands. Among them was Abdul, who was walking through the lane when the building collapsed and narrowly escaped being caught under the debris. He stayed back and helped pull out at least two injured labourers.

"I was passing through the lane when the building collapsed. I narrowly escaped being caught underneath. Locals gathered to help pull out injured labourers, but the concrete slabs and heavy chunks of masonry were impossible to move by hand.

"We could hear people trapped underneath, but there was little we could do until the rescue teams arrived," Abdul said.

The narrow lane made rescue particularly difficult. At some points, the passage is barely three feet wide, leaving just enough room for two people to stand side by side. Buildings rise on either side, while a dense web of overhead wires hangs above the street.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.