As of Thursday morning, a total of 61 people have been rescued following the building collapse in Dharwad, police officials confirmed to TNM. Further, it was reported that a total of 30 people, including 12 girls are currently trapped in the rubble, and officials are working towards rescuing them. The 12 girls were in a cyber cafe in the eastern part of the building when it came crashing down.
The death toll rose to seven on Wednesday evening, a day after the incident.
Rescue operations picked up pace on Wednesday after three teams of 11 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) members each arrived with special equipment to carry out rescue operations. In addition, 80 officials from the Fire and Emergency Services were also flown in to Dharwad from Bengaluru to assist in the operations. On Tuesday alone, 10 ambulances and five fire tenders were deployed.
On Tuesday, at around 3.40pm, a building which was under construction in Dharwad’s Kumareshwara Nagar collapsed.
Rescue efforts began on Tuesday evening to locate people who are trapped under the debris and are ongoing. The Chief Minister’s Office confirmed that three people who were rescued remain critical as of Wednesday. The injured people were shifted to Civil Hospital in Dharwad.
It was reported that Gangadhar Shintry, one of the owners of the building, is a relative of Congress leader Vinay Kulkarni. A partial completion certificate had been issued to the building owners who obtained the same from the Hubbali-Dharwad Municipal Corporation.
A case was filed under section 304 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the building owners. A special team is expected to be constituted to investigate the case and arrest those responsible for the accident.