Two people killed, three injured in Noida building collapse; authorities yet to ascertain cause

Noida: Two people were killed and three injured after a portion of a multi-storey building collapsed in Uttar Pradesh’s Noida on Friday, police said. The under-construction building is located in Sector 11 and belongs to a private firm. The incident took place around 7.30 pm, they said. A large number of police personnel along with senior officers and teams of the fire department and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were present on the spot for rescue operations. “Five people have been rescued from the building. Two of them have died while three others have been hospitalised with injuries but they are out of danger,” the district police said in a statement. Taking cognisance of the incident, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath asked Gautam Buddh Nagar Police Commissioner Alok Singh to reach the spot. He also asked Singh to ensure all victims are rescued and given proper treatment, according to an official statement released in Lucknow. Singh said information was received this evening that a part of the building had collapsed during construction work. “Teams of firefighters, police, district administration and ambulances reached the spot swiftly. The chief minister himself is monitoring the situation and a team of the NDRF has also been deployed for rescue work on his instructions,” he told reporters after inspecting the incident site. “Those rescued have been sent to hospital and the NDRF team is continuing the rescue operation. The NDRF has teams of (sniffer) dogs and technical squads on the ground and is highly equipped for the work. They are looking for survivors, if any,” he added. On the cause of the collapse, Singh said engineers and technical teams from the Noida Authority have reached the spot to ascertain the reason. The front portion of the building collapsed due to the construction work. The office of a solar panel manufacturing firm is located on the floor on which the work was going on, according to senior officials at the site.