6-year-old and youth die in building collapse, 9 injured

Two persons, including a six-year-old boy, died and around nine others were severely injured when the top two floors of a three-storey building collapsed after a high-power compressor explosion at West Delhi’s Sudarshan Park area on Wednesday morning.

The deceased were identified as Anand Shashinath (20) and Armaan (6). The other injured persons include two children and a woman — they have been admitted to the Acharya Shree Bhikshu Hospital in Moti Nagar, informed a fire department official.

The fire department received a call around 7.45 am, after which a rescue operation was launched and 11 bodies were recovered from the debris. They were all rushed to the hospital, where Anand was declared brought dead. But six-year-old Armaan later succumbed to his injuries, said the official.

The collapsed building, WZ 144/2 in Sudarshan Park, was owned by one Karanjeet. 

The owner himself and his relatives – along with a few labourers – are among the ones fighting for their lives in the hospital. There was a fan assembling unit in the ground floor of the building, which needed a powerful compressor for various purposes, including painting the assembled products. It was the compressor in the assembling unit, which exploded and the impact made the top two floors crumble down, though the ground floor remained intact, said a senior police official. He further said that Anand was a labourer, who worked in the assembling unit and Armaan was the son of another labourer there. They often slept in the premises of the assembling unit.

“The police have registered a case at the Moti Nagar police station for negligent conduct with respect to machinery and culpable homicide against unknown persons, as the ownership of the fan assembling unit is yet to be ascertained,” said Pushpendra Kumar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (West). He further said that it is possible that the assembling unit was rented to someone else. 

Investigation is underway and nothing can be said until the owner of the building has been questioned.