By IANS,
New Delhi : It was around 8 p.m. when 12-year-old Saima was engrossed with dinner preparations in the Khan household, in the old quarter of the city. Saima, who was kneading the dough, got up to wash her hands when the three-storey building they lived in came crumbling down.
She is one of the 23 injured who are admitted to central Delhi’s Lok Nayak Hospital after the structure in Katra Data Ram Ki Haveli in Chandni Mahal area near Jama Masjid collapsed Tuesday, killing at least seven people.
“My niece just stood up to wash her hands… suddenly the walls crumbled and the building came down,” recalled Mohammed Asif, Saima’s uncle, whose five family members were injured in the incident.
Asif’s younger brother Sajid, 40, is also admitted to hospital with serious injuries.
“Doctors have just examined my brother. We are waiting for CT scan reports as he is very critical. All that we had…the memories, everything… it is buried,” Asif said in a choked voice while waiting outside the emergency ward of the hospital.
Hospital authorities had imposed heavy restrictions on outsiders entering the premises.
According to doctors, three patients continue to be critical and are being monitored constantly.
“Rafiulla, 60, Shoaib, 25, Mohammed Mushtaq, 40, are critical. They have received crash injuries and fractures,” said a doctor from the hospital.
The building collapsed due to digging work in an adjacent under-construction house in the complex, fire officials said.
Those killed in the incident are Munni Devi, 70, Fatima, 65, Shaukat Bee, 65, Arshad, 40, Tabassum, 18, Amaan, 6, and an unknown person whose details are yet to be confirmed by the hospital.