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Three rescued after three days under collapsed Indian building
NEW DELHI, March 22, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Indian emergency workers Friday
rescued three people trapped under the rubble of a collapsed building for
three days, officials told AFP as the death toll rose to 17.
Emergency workers were searching for eight more people after the five-
storey building in southern Karnataka state caved in on Tuesday, officials
said.
A video shared by M N Reddi, Karnataka’s emergency services chief, showed
a man and his wife being pulled out of the rubble after remaining trapped for
about 70 hours.
While the woman was carried out on a stretcher, a rescue worker lifted her
husband on his back up the ladder out of the debris amid claps and cheers.
“Two more survivors — Dilip and his wife Sangeetha, rescued by our Fire
Force rescuers just now! This takes the total rescued so far to 59. Kudos to
the Rescue team!,” Reddi said in a tweet.
Another man was rescued early Friday morning after being trapped for more
than 62 hours. The man had no visible injuries and was hugged by the rescue
team before he walked away from the debris and was taken to a nearby
hospital.
As many as 54 people have been rescued alive by the team of around 400 who
have been scouring through tonnes of concrete and steel.
“Those rescued have been shifted to the hospital and five persons have
been arrested in the matter,” emergency official Srikant, who goes by one
name, told AFP.
Police have charged the owner of the construction company — one of the
five arrested — with manslaughter.
Heavy earth-movers and rescuers with specialised equipment and sniffer
dogs were deployed in the increasingly desperate operation.
The victims were mostly from northern Indian states who had come to the
region for work.
Building collapses are frequent in India. Many firms use cheap materials
and bribe officials to evade regulations, while on-site safety is lax.
Many Indian cities have seen rapid growth in the last few decades with new
buildings often built without proper quality supervision, and the older ones
poorly maintained.
Last September, five people were killed after a Delhi apartment block
collapsed. Months earlier, a six-storey building in the capital gave way,
killing nine.
BSS/AFP/BZC/1935HRS