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One person has died and four others have been rescued after two building blocks constructed under a government housing scheme nearly two decades ago collapsed in Ahmedabad’s Odhav locality on the night of Sunday, 26 August.
According to the rescue team, five people were trapped under the debris of the building. While one of them has died, the four injured have been moved to Shardaben Hospital.
Additional chief fire officer Rajesh Bhatt told PTI that there is no likelihood of anyone else being trapped under the debris.
We have contacted all the families and nobody is missing. So, there is no likelihood of anyone else being trapped under the debris, which is being cleared.
Speaking to the media, Minister of State for Home Pradipsinh Jadeja said, “Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the local fire brigade were deployed to rescue people from the debris of the two blocks, each four-storeyed.”
He had said that these teams were using modern equipment for the rescue operation.
Search and rescue operations at the building collapse site in Odhav, Ahmedabad.
(Photo: ANI)
"The blocks were vacated yesterday by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) officials after it appeared that the building might collapse any time. But a few residents came back today and were inside the building when it collapsed," Jadeja said on Sunday.
Ahmedabad mayor Bijal Patel had told PTI, “Some residents had returned to the building on Sunday due to rains despite the AMC officials asking people to vacate their houses."
AMC Commissioner Vijay Nehra said two blocks of the building of the government colony, each having around 150 residents, collapsed completely.
“After noticing the damage, we got the buildings vacated on Saturday. Around 300 people had been vacated, but some of the residents returned. Some of them are still trapped,” Nehra had said earlier.
Gujarat Chief minister Vijay Rupani had directed the district collector to take the services of the NDRF to evacuate the trapped people, a government official said.
(With inputs from news agencies)
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