2 rescued, 5 killed in Hyderabad building collapse; 6 more feared trapped

Hyderabad: Two persons were rescued on Friday in a continuing operation 22 hours after a multi-storey building collapsed at Nanakramguda late on Thursday. Six more persons, including a three-year-old child, are believed trapped under the debris.

The bodies of five persons were brought out of the debris by National Disaster Response Force personnel. NDRF officials said since this was a case of “pancake collapse”, where the floors progressively collapsed, there was no chance of finding survivors. Owner Satyanarayana Singh is absconding and is believed to be in Kerala. His son Anil Singh is in police custody.

“In the preliminary inquiry we found a deep excavation conducted for another under-construction project behind this collapsed building. A part of this building’s foundation had caved in into that area and a retaining wall is not visible. That would be one reason for this mishap. Fault in design, lack of quality building materials and negligence of the builder are also reasons,” said Cyberabad commissioner of police Sandeep Shandilya.

JNTU sees poor quality material
Cyberabad police commissioner Sandeep Shandilya said these were early findings and a team of experts would pinpoint the exact cause. “At the moment, our priority is the rescue operation. The investigation against builder is taking place in parallel,” he said. He said multiple police teams were looking for Satyarayana Singh.

“There should be a strong retaining wall and gap between two buildings. We are examining if this project had followed the rules,” he said, referring to the Suma-dhura Constructions building.

The deceased were identified as Neti Paidamma, 35, her husband Sambaiah, 40, their daughter Neti Gawri, 13, and Venkat Lakshmi, all of them from Vizianagaram and Durga Rao, 25.

Some of those inside the building could be workers from nearby sites, police said. Mr K.T. Rama Rao Rao announced an ex gratia payment of '10 lakh to the next of kin of dead adults. Injured persons will be paid '1 lakh, and treatment costs. The government has arranged for the bodies of the dead accompanied by their family members to be transported to their native places.

The preliminary report of the investigation by JNTU experts said extremely poor quality of material, gross violation and structural standards led to the collapse. JNTU civil engineering rector Dr N.V. Ramana Rao said, “ We are studying the role of the construction being taken up behind the building.”