Eleven people, including three children and seven members of a single family, were killed when a four-storey building collapsed in northeast Delhi’s Mustafabad early Saturday. The incident occurred around 3 am, trapping over 20 people under debris. Rescue operations lasted over 12 hours.
A building collapse in northeast Delhi’s Mustafabad in the early hours of Saturday killed 11 people, including three children, and left 11 others injured, wiping out multiple families and triggering a massive rescue operation that continued for over 12 hours. Among those killed were seven members of a single family, including 60-year-old Tehsin, the owner of the four-storey structure, his son, daughter-in-law, three grandchildren, and younger daughter-in-law. Several others who lived in the building, which housed shops on the ground floor and residential units above, were also among the dead. “We lost an entire generation of our family in just a moment,” said a devastated Bhulan, Tehsin’s brother, struggling to process the scale of the tragedy.
The incident occurred around 3 am in Shakti Vihar yesterday. Rescue teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Delhi Fire Services, and police personnel worked through the day to recover survivors and bodies from the rubble.
Those killed included Tehsin (60), his son Nazeem (30), Nazeem’s wife Shahina (28), their children Anas (6), Afreen (2), and Afan (2), and Chandni (23), the wife of Tehsin’s younger son. Tehsin’s wife Zeenat (58) and son Chand (25) survived the collapse. Chand has been discharged from hospital, while Zeenat remains under observation. Also among the deceased were brothers Danish (23) and Naved (17), who lived on the third floor and were the primary breadwinners for their family. Their father Shahid and mother Rehana are under treatment.
Another victim, Reshma (38), helped her husband and three children escape before she succumbed to injuries. Her brother Sonu Abbas said she briefly regained consciousness, ensured her family was safe, and then passed away.
President expresses grief
President Droupadi Murmu expressed grief over the incident. “The news of the deaths of many people, including children and women, in the unfortunate incident of the collapse of a building in Mustafabad, Delhi is extremely sad. I express my deepest condolences to all the bereaved families. I pray for the speedy recovery of those injured,” she posted on X in Hindi.
Rescue ops underway
The narrow lanes and dense construction in the locality hampered rescue efforts. NDRF DIG Mohsen Shahidi described it as a “pancake collapse” — a type of structural failure in which floors fall vertically onto one another, leaving little room for survival. A police official said ongoing construction work in “two-three shops” on the ground floor may have triggered the collapse. Locals also pointed to recent renovations as a possible cause.
Delhi CM orders probe
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta has ordered a probe. Police said the first alert came in at 3:02 am, following which a team from Dayalpur police station was dispatched to Gali No. 1 in Shakti Vihar, where 22 people were reported trapped.
As the debris was cleared, grief overwhelmed the survivors. “My entire family has been destroyed, how do we recover from this?” said Tehsin’s sister, Sanjeeda, who waited beside the wreckage for hours before her brother’s body was found.
(With PTI inputs)