Chandigarh: Two businessmen were killed and five others rescued after a 54-year-old, two-storey commercial building collapsed in Industrial Area Phase II on Saturday evening. Rescue teams worked for nearly five-and-a-half hours to pull out those trapped beneath the debris.
Teams from the Army, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the Chandigarh Administration, Civil Defence and the police took part in the rescue operation.
The deceased were identified as Tarun Kaushik, 45, a resident of Solan in Himachal Pradesh, and Tarun Jain, 48, from Meerut in Uttar Pradesh. Their bodies were handed over to their families after post-mortem examinations. Five injured persons, identified as Kuldeep Singh, Kulbir Singh, Umesh, Rahul and Ajit, were rescued and are undergoing treatment.
A team from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) visited the site after the rescue operation and collected samples from the debris as part of the investigation.
Ramesh Kumar, one of the survivors, said around 20 to 25 people were inside the building when the incident occurred at about 4.20 pm.
“We suddenly felt a jolt, like an earthquake, and the building came crashing down. Everyone inside was trapped under the debris,” he said.
Initially, police and Civil Defence personnel launched the rescue operation. Heavy machinery was used to carefully remove concrete slabs and allow air to reach those trapped beneath the rubble.
MPS Chawla, president of the Industrial Association, said the building, located at Plot No. 28/9, was over five decades old and housed a scrap business. He said the roof may have collapsed due to the age of the structure.
The two deceased businessmen had recently entered into a partnership to start a scrap business. Family members said they had launched the venture only five to seven days ago.
Tarun Kaushik is survived by his eight-year-old daughter, while Tarun Jain leaves behind a ten-year-old son. Jain had recently shifted from Meerut and was staying in a hotel as he had not yet rented a house. Family members said the two friends were planning to move into a flat together in the next few days.
According to officials, the commercial building was allotted and constructed in 1972. It had been rented out around 15 days ago for the scrap business. Authorities suspect continuous rainfall over the past two days may have weakened the old structure, contributing to the collapse.
Questions have also been raised over the delayed deployment of the NDRF. While the incident occurred around 4.20 pm, the NDRF was informed only around 6.45 pm, nearly two-and-a-half hours later.
NDRF officer Sanjeev Kohli said the team rescued two people from beneath the debris during the final phase of the operation. One was unconscious, while the other was able to speak. He said the team first secured the damaged concrete slabs before carrying out the rescue.
Chandigarh Mayor Saurabh Joshi said renovation work was underway in the old building when the collapse occurred. However, he declined to comment on why the NDRF was informed several hours after the incident.
The collapse is the second structural accident reported in Chandigarh since the onset of the monsoon. On July 3, the roof of the old multipurpose hall at Chandigarh College of Engineering and Technology collapsed during heavy rain. The building had already been declared unsafe and vacated, and no injuries were reported in that incident.
