Building collapse: Rescue work over, no new body found

Greater Noida: The rescue operation in the twin building collapse incident in Shahberi village in Bisrakh area of Greater Noida got completed on Friday evening, almost 67 hours after the incident. National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) officials, who were assigned to perform the task, on Friday said that no new bodies were found from the debris and the death toll remained at nine.

According to a senior NDRF official, the rescue operation took almost three days and the NDRF personnel worked throughout the day and night before they could finally clear the debris by 4:30 pm on Friday.

"The rubble was finally cleared on Friday evening and no more bodies were recovered. Though there was little rain on Friday morning, the team continued with the work. It was a joint operation and the district administration helped us a lot. It took us almost three days. The work was complicated as one building was tilted on the other, which made the rescue operation difficult," said a senior NDRF official.

NDRF had deployed heavy machines to clear the rubble but the personnel were moving cautiously to avoid harming anyone trapped under the debris.

According to a senior official, in this accident, 9 bodies were retrieved, including 6 men, 2 women and a one-and-a-half-year-old child. More than 200 NDRF personnel were involved in the rescue operation. The relief and rescue operation was done by 3 doctors, 21 subordinate officers, 170 jawans, 8 dogs, 16 vehicles and about 100 CSS (Collapse structure search and rescue) equipment.

"We have formed teams and so far, 5 people have been arrested while others named in the FIR are on the run. We have formed teams to nab them," said Ajay pal Sharma, Senior Superintendent Of Police (Gautam Budh Nagar).