As many as seven people were left trapped under the debris after two blocks of a four-storey building in a government colony collapsed in the Odhav area of Ahmedabad on Sunday.
The building built by the government for the minority collapsed following rains on Sunday.
“10 people are feared trapped. Two people have been rescued from under the debris. There were total 32 flats in the building, notice was given and it was vacated. It will later be ascertained how they entered again today. The rescue operations are underway,” said chief fire officer Rajesh Bhatt quoted India Today.
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brigade teams comprising of 60 members had arrived for the rescue operation and have so far rescued three people that included a minor girl within an hour after the building had collapsed.
Joint Commissioner of Police Ashok Yadav was quoted by Hindustan Times saying, “Police teams are assisting the Fire Brigade in the rescue operation. The rescue operation is our priority at the moment.”
Meanwhile, area councilor Bharat Patel describing the situation said, “Block numbers 23 and 24 of the 18-year-old building were declared unsafe on Saturday and the occupants were asked to vacate all the floors.”
“The occupants had moved out, but some of them returned on Sunday evening when it was raining,” he informed.
Five teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have also reached the incident area to help with the rescue operations, Gujarat Home Minister Pradipsinh Jadeja confirmed.
“Teams of Municipal Corporation, state government, National Disaster Response Force and fire brigade are carrying out rescue operations. Five NDRF teams are deployed. Required machinery will be deployed immediately,” he said.
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Municipal commission Vijay Nehra told the national daily, “Around 150 occupants of the two blocks were evacuated on Saturday. Some of them returned on Sunday for some unknown reasons. We have called NDRF teams from Gandhinagar to expedite the rescue operations.”
Many residents of the collapsed building, however, retaliated that they were not informed on Saturday, but on Sunday afternoon barely hours before the collapse.
Among them, Pravin Sikotia, a resident of the building said, “We were asked to move out today around 4 pm. Before the residents could manage to shift, the building collapsed around 9 pm.”