About a
total of eleven people were confirmed dead on Thursday three days after a
building under construction in southern India collapsed, officials said.
According to reports, many
firms use cheap materials and bribe officials to evade regulations, while
on-site safety is lax.
The current incident which
happened in Karnataka state on Tuesday came as a shocker to many and reports
has it that about 400 rescuers have been scouring around for survivors.
Fifty-three
people have been rescued from the rubble of the five-storey building in Dharwad
district, but three more bodies were pulled out on Thursday.
According to reports from an
AFP representative, at least 15 people are possibly still under the debris and
it’s unlikely they will survive.
Heavy
earth-movers and rescuers with specialised equipment and sniffer dogs were
deployed in the increasingly desperate operation.
Police have charged the
builder with manslaughter but he remains free, with investigators saying he
will be arrested after the rescue operation is over.
Last September, five people
were killed after a Delhi apartment block collapsed. Months earlier, a
six-storey building in the capital had given way, killing nine.
Millions of Indians, who will
vote in elections in April and May, live in dilapidated old buildings, many of
which are susceptible to collapse during rain.
Source: Punch News
