Building collapse in New Delhi leaves five dead

Building collapse in New Delhi leaves five dead

2012-01-05 18:12:09 GMT+7 (ICT)

NEW DELHI (BNO NEWS) -- Five people were killed on early Wednesday morning when a gas explosion caused a house to collapse in the Indian capital of New Delhi, police said on Thursday.

The accident happened at around 7.30 a.m. local time at a house in the Mundka area of northwest Delhi when several residents were cooking with a leaking gas cylinder. When one of the residents turned on the television, it caused a large explosion.

A local police official said the explosion caused the roof of the building to collapse, killing five people who were inside the single-story building which had three rooms. Eight others were injured, although six of them were able to leave the hospital within hours.

The fatalities were identified as three adults and two children aged 8 and 12, whose parents survived the blast.

"The house was reduced to rubble and almost all my relatives were trapped inside," one relative, who also lived at the house, told the Hindustan Times. "I screamed for help and one of my neighbors called the police. By the time, the rubble was cleared my husband and my 18-year-old son were already dead. I thought it was an earthquake."

The building was described as old and police believe it was already weak before the explosion.

On December 3, four people were killed when a four-story building collapsed in the Uttam Nagar neighborhood of West Delhi. The building collapsed while construction was ongoing in the basement, and the homeowner had just returned from complaining at a government office about the deteriorating condition of his building.

In late September, seven people were killed and 25 others were injured when a three-story building collapsed in the Chandni Mahal area of the walled city of Old Delhi near New Delhi. The collapse was likely caused by digging at a construction complex near the building.

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