Uttar Pradesh chief minister calls deaths 'heartbreaking' as authorities investigate incident
Indian rescue workers have pulled eight bodies from the rubble of a three-storey building in the northern city of Lucknow, according to reports, with the state's chief minister calling the deaths “heartbreaking”.
The Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency broadcast images of piles of concrete and state rescue teams with heavy excavators searching for bodies on Sunday.
PTI quoted officials as saying that eight bodies had been recovered and 28 people were injured.
Yogi Adityanath, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh state where Lucknow is located, called the deaths “heartbreaking” in a statement and offered his condolences to the grieving families of the dead.
The commercial building, which had been used by several small businesses, including as a warehouse and vehicle repair shop, collapsed on Saturday afternoon.
It was not clear whether more people were still trapped.
The cause of the collapse was not immediately established.
But Akash Singh, who worked in the building, said a crack had formed in a pillar.
She had moved to the ground floor for fear that the situation would worsen with the heavy monsoon rains lashing the city.
“Suddenly, the entire building collapsed on us,” Singh was quoted as saying by PTI.
The Times of India newspaper quoted witnesses as saying that two trucks had crashed into the building while unloading goods in recent days, possibly triggering the collapse.
Police also said the building, constructed about four years ago, was undergoing construction at the time of the collapse, according to the Hindustan Times.
Construction accidents are common during India's June-September monsoon season, with old, rickety structures collapsing under days of non-stop rain.
