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Indian building collapse leaves eight dead and dozens trapped Indian buildings collapse leaves 11 dead and dozens trapped
(about 4 hours later)
Eight people have died and dozens more have been trapped in the collapse of adjacent three-storey apartment buildings in western India, according to police. Rescue workers in India are fighting to save dozens of inhabitants trapped when two apartment buildings collapsed early this morning.
The first building collapsed at approximately 4.30am local time, police said, and the other fell half an hour later, pinning more than 30 people under the debris of an apartment block that was home to about a dozen families in Vadodara, Gujarat state. Officials said 11 people died in the collapse in Vadodara in the western state of Gujarat while several more had been injured and at least 30 were buried by rubble. Four badly injured people have been rescued from the debris. The death toll is expected to rise.
Police said rescuers were working to pull out the people trapped under the rubble, several of whom were wounded. Such incidents are weekly occurrences in India where corruption, poor building materials and low levels of technical competence make many buildings unsafe. Wiring often leads to fatal fires. Many minor collapses go unreported.
"Seven bodies have been retrieved and seven people evacuated so far," a local official told the BBC. According to the Times of India, the most recent incident involved two blocks of flats in a low-cost public housing project. Such complexes have a reputation for poor construction as state funds to pay for better materials is frequently diverted by corrupt contractors and bureaucrats.
Most of the occupants of the 14 apartments in the first building were sleeping when it collapsed. The adjacent housing block was evacuated minutes before it buckled. Residents told the Times of India that they had complained to authorities about the poor condition of many buildings in the project, constructed in 2001.
Building collapses are common in India as builders try to cut corners by using substandard materials, and as multistorey structures are built with inadequate supervision. "We have been making representations to the [local authority] for quite some time now, but to no avail," Suresh Valand, a resident, said.
The two buildings collapsed between 4am and 4.30am, a local official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"We are now doing the necessary to secure all other residents and houses in the colony and doing in-depth checking. There will be a full inquiry. It is too early to say what caused this mishap."
In July a hotel collapsed in the southern city of Secunderabad, killing 16 people, and earlier this year 72 people died when a building collapsed in a suburb of Mumbai. Two builders were charged with culpable homicide.
In November 2010, 67 people died when a tenement full of migrant labourers fell down in east Delhi.
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