News: 2 dead after roof collapses in sixth-floor flat in Gurugram Sector 109-11-02-2022
Police officers on the spot said only two floors — the first and second — between the seventh and ground floors were occupied
At least two people died and six others were trapped under the debris after the ceiling of a sixth-floor flat in a condominium in Sector 109 collapsed, causing all the floors underneath the room to cave-in, around 6pm on Thursday, police and rescue workers at the site said.
The incident took place in a flat in the 18-storey Tower D of Chintels Paradiso, where renovation work was being carried out by the owner of the seventh floor flat, police officers said.
Renovation work was being carried out on the floor of the seventh floor (the ceiling of the sixth floor flat), and it collapsed.
Police officers on the spot said only two floors — the first and second — between the seventh and ground floors were occupied.
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They confirmed that a woman, who lived alone, was among the two casualties.
Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Gurugram police and fire department were at the site, and were cutting through the debris to look for survivors. They said a senior officer of the Central Warehousing Corporation official was among those stuck on the first floor, and he was being rescued.
Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar tweeted, “Administrative officials, along with SDRF and NDRF teams are busy in the rescue & relief work after the unfortunate collapse of the apartment roof at the Paradiso Housing Complex in Gurugram. I am personally monitoring the situation and I pray for everyone’s safety.”
Gurugram police commissioner KK Rao said police teams reached the spot within 10 minutes of receiving the first distress call and coordinated with other agencies to launch the rescue operations. He said the entire area has been cordoned off, as the building may not be stable, and added that other residents of the building have been evacuated.
“According to the preliminary report, two people have died and at least four people are stuck in the debris. Right now, we are focussing on finding survivors in the debris. Our teams are coordinating with residents to get exact details of the residents who could be trapped in the rubble,” he said.
The commissioner said that a thorough inquiry will be done to ascertain the reason behind the collapse, but added that during the initial probe it has been found that repair work in the flat on the sixth floor could have triggered the collapse. “A resident on sixth floor was repairing the roof (lintel) following it collapsed, causing extensive damage to the floors below,” he said.
Ashish Pandey, an inspector of NDRF, said they received information about the accident around 6pm.“Our three teams, comprising of 40 personnel, reached the site and rescue operations are underway. We have also deployed our dog squad to help find people who might be buried under the debris,” he said.
NDRF officials said debris cutters and lifting machines have been deployed at the site. Rescuers have installed a mettalic staircase to reach inside the flats from the balconies.
Officials of the fire department said initial inquiries from the local residents suggest that five to six people could be stuck under the collapsed portion. Gulshan Kalra, a senior fire department official, said, “Locals told us that a few residents managed to escape before the building collapsed,” he said.
The Chintels Paradiso condominium has nine towers, comprising 542 apartments. Chintels Paradiso project was launched in 2011 and 12 and the possession to property owners was given in 2018
Flat owners from Tower D said they heard a loud boom around 6pm, and rushed to their balconies to see what happened. They said as soon as they realised that portion of six floors have collapsed, they ran out of the building, fearing that the entire structure may collapse.
“We are shocked and everyone has left the apartments. There was some work going on at the seventh floor and I am not aware how many persons are trapped in the rubble,” said Brig Ravi Yadav, who lives on 12th floor. He said panic has gripped the entire housing society, and people were shifting their families out.
Vijay Chauhan, a flat owner, who lives in Dwarka, and rushed to Gurugram to check his flat in Tower D, said the entire lintel has been damaged.
Some residents alleged that they had raised problems with the structural integrity of the building in the past, and lodged multiple complaints too. “An audit of the structure was also carried out, but nothing happened after that,” Varun Dhamija, a resident, alleged.
Sonam Arora, another resident, said, “A portion of a balcony in a tower had fell down in July last year, and we had lodged complains with the authorities but not much happened,” she said.
Officials of the Town and Country Planning department could not be reached for a comment, despite repeated efforts.
