Kolkata building collapse: Toll rises to 10, two still missing; landowner held

Kolkata: Rescue workers on Tuesday evening recovered the body of another person from underneath the debris of the collapsed five-storey building in Kolkata’s Garden Reach area taking the toll to 10, a senior police officer said.

Two more persons are still missing, he said.

Police on Tuesday night arrested the owner of the land on which the illegal five-storey building was built, an officer said.

“We have arrested the landowner on which the structure was built. We will produce him in the court tomorrow,” he added.

The builder of the house was arrested on Monday. When produced before a city court, he was sent to 14 day’s police custody.

“One person was found under the debris at around 8 pm. We rushed him to the SSKM Hospital where doctors declared him brought dead. He was a mason from Murshidabad district who was working on the project,” the police officer told PTI.

Personnel of the state disaster management department, NDRF, fire department and Kolkata Police’s disaster management unit resumed rescue operations early Tuesday morning.

“There was piled up rubble and it was tough to continue the rescue operation there. We brought small tools to cut through concrete slabs.

Large equipment could not be brought as the area is congested and full of narrow lanes,” the officer said.

An under-construction five-storey building in the city’s western fringes collapsed early Monday claiming at least 10 lives and injuring 17 more.

The deceased included two women who lived in the vicinity.

The condition of a few of the injured is stated to be serious.