Ahmedabad building collapse: One dead, four rescued in 12 hours

AHMEDABAD: After collapse of two blocks at Government Housing Scheme in Odhav on Sunday night, the teams of Ahmedabad Fire and Emergency Services (AFES) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) continued search and rescue work at the site. As per AFES officials, they had rescued five persons in 12 hours as on Monday morning.

While four persons were conscious and hospitalised, one man in mid-thirties succumbed to injuries and died on the way to hospital. The rescued persons have been identified as Suresh Kumar (40), Kiranben (30), Bhartiben (26), and Ajay.



It is suspected that the persons had been to the structure – earlier declared dangerous by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) – to collect their belongings after a spell of rain on Sunday evening and got trapped when the blocks collapsed around 8 pm.

A senior AFES official, who worked on the site till early Monday morning, told TOI that they believed there might not be any more persons beneath.

After five teams of AFES consisting of about 125 officers and personnel were engaged in rescue, five teams of NDRF were called upon from Gandhinagar to help with the operation

“There has not been any report of missing person. A woman had approached the authorities mentioning her missing husband. It is believed that the person who died in the incident might be him. Apart from that, the authorities have contacted all 32 families who used to occupy the apartments, but no other person is reported missing. However, our efforts would continue to ascertain whether any more persons are beneath the rubble,” said the official.

AMC authorities said that one of the two blocks was completely taken down from terrace to ground floor for search and no more persons were found, whereas work on another block was on. Multiple teams were engaged in removing the debris and clearing the spot.

“The four injured persons are getting treatment at Shardaben Hospital and they are out of danger,” said Bijal Patel, Ahmedabad mayor, who had visited the victims late on Sunday night. Municipal commissioner Vijay Nehra and senior AMC officials camped at the spot till early morning to oversee the operations.

After five teams of AFES consisting of about 125 officers and personnel were engaged in rescue, five teams of NDRF were called upon from Gandhinagar to help with the operation.

The incident had taken place at the locality of about 70 blocks – each having four floors and each floor having five residences – which was constructed in 1999 as housing scheme for economically weaker sections.

The cracks had started appearing on Sunday morning after which majority of the occupants were forcibly removed by joint teams of AMC and city police.

Locals claimed that majority of the occupants in the scheme were tenants who ignored maintenance for long and feared the similar fate for other buildings as well.

AMC has started survey for other buildings and other EWS schemes to identify dangerous structures and evacuate persons if required.