At least 64 people were killed and 75 injured after a multi-storey building collapsed in east Delhi late yesterday, local media said.
Local television channels said rescue operations were continuing as some people were still feared to trapped in the debris.
The 15-year-old building housing about 200 people - mostly migrant workers and their families - collapsed into a mountain of concrete slabs, iron rods, bricks and mortar in Delhi’s Lalita Park neighbourhood yesterday evening.
About 30 people were believed to still be trapped under the rubble, said Delhi’s top elected official, Sheila Dikshit, and emergency efforts were hampered because fire engines had difficulty navigating the neighbourhood’s narrow alleyways.
Local residents who were first to arrive at the accident site used bare hands to scoop away debris until they were joined by police and firefighters, who used gas cutters to cut through the iron rods. Police brought in sniffer dogs to locate people trapped under the debris.
Residents helped carry the injured to vehicles and to transport them to nearby hospitals, as hundreds of people crowded around or peered down from rooftops of nearby buildings.
Ms Dikshit said it was not immediately possible to say what caused the accident but pledged there would be an inquiry.
Delhi’s finance minister, AK Walia, told Press Trust of India that this year’s unusually heavy monsoon rains could have weakened the building’s foundations. He said floodwater from the Yamuna River had inundated the area two months ago.
Residents said rainwater had accumulated in the basement of the building, but it was not immediately clear if it had been pumped out.
Agencies