51 die in building collapse

Associated Press

NEW DELHI

A four-story building collapsed in a congested neighborhood in New Delhi on Monday, killing at least 51 people and injuring 76 others, a top police official said.

Many more people were trapped under debris after the building on the Indian capital’s east side collapsed, said B.K. Gupta, New Delhi police commissioner.

Local residents, who were the first to reach the scene of the accident, used their bare hands to scoop away mud and mortar and pull out survivors.

Emergency efforts were hampered as fire engines found it difficult to navigate the narrow alleys of the residential neighborhood of Lalita Park.

Residents helped carry the injured to vehicles and transport them to nearby hospitals. Police, firefighters and locals tried to remove concrete slabs as hundreds of people crowded around or peered down from rooftops of nearby buildings.