A man died after a three-storey shop building collapsed near Pul Mithai in North Delhi’s Lohia Chowk area in the early hours of Friday. The collapsed building, located at Tokri Walan in Pul Mithai near Bara Hindu Rao, had three shops on the ground floor and godowns on the first floor. The shops were part of the Azad Market area and dealt in bags and canvas cloth.
The deceased has been identified as Manoj Sharma, also known as Pappu, aged 45. He was an employee at shop number 7A, owned by Gulshan Mahajan, and had been working there for the past 30 years. The Delhi Fire Services received a message at 6:50 a.m. and immediately sent three fire tenders to the site. Teams from the Fire Brigade, NDRF, CATS Ambulance, DDMA, and the crime team also arrived for rescue operations.
Manoj Sharma was pulled out of the debris and taken to Bara Hindu Rao Hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival. No other injuries have been reported so far. A truck parked in front of the building was also severely damaged in the collapse.
Police are registering an FIR under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and an investigation is underway to determine the cause of the collapse. Incidentally, just last month, a commercial building collapsed in Rohini’s Sector 7 area, according to the Delhi Fire Service. The fire department said it received a call about the incident at 4:04 p.m., and four fire tenders were quickly sent to the spot to carry out rescue and relief work.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has been informed and is likely to join the rescue efforts.
“A commercial building collapsed in the Sector 7 area of Rohini, Delhi. Fire tenders sent to the spot. NDRF also informed about the building collapse,” said the Delhi Fire Service.
The cause of the building collapse is yet to be determined. The authorities are working to rescue those trapped and assess the damage.
