Seven people had died after a building collapsed in northern Indian town of Kanpur and search for dozens feared trapped in rubble was continuing, police said on Thursday.
The building under construction in Jajmau area of Kanpur collapsed on Wednesday while labourers were working on the sixth floor, police official, Ajit Singh, said.
“Some of the injured are in critical condition and the toll could go up,’’ Singh said.
He said that it was unclear how many people were still trapped, adding that 22 people had been rescued so far.
“Rescue operations are slow; we cannot use machines until it is clear that there are no more people trapped in the debris,’’ National Disaster Management Force (NDRF) official, Alok Singh, said.
The NDRF has been working at the site overnight along with the police, fire department and local administration officials.
“A four-year-old girl was rescued from the rubble early morning,’’ Singh added.
The cause of the collapse was not yet clear. Preliminary investigations indicated that poor construction materials and standards had most likely caused the accident, police sources said.
The building suddenly crumbled like a pack of cards, IANS news agency quoted an eyewitness as saying.
The police have filed charges against the owner of the building and the contractor. No arrests have been made yet.
