BUILDING COLLAPSE IN NEW DELHI KILLS AT LEAST THREE STUDENTS

A residential building housing students collapsed in the Satya Niketan area of south-west Delhi on Sunday around midday, killing at least three people and trapping dozens more in the rubble. Emergency services rescued at least eight people from the debris, with five taken to hospital in critical condition. The five-storey building, known as Hostel Daze, stood near Delhi University campus. Police and disaster response personnel used heavy machinery to lift rubble as search and rescue operations continued.

Eyewitness accounts suggested as many as 50 people were inside the building when it collapsed around 13:30 local time. Many were students in their rooms, as no classes were held on Sunday. The building had been undergoing construction work in its basement, undertaken to expand the hostel. A nearby shop owner told news agency ANI that basement excavation had weakened the building's pillars despite reinforcement work on the upper structure. The owner of the building remains unlocated, according to police. An adjacent building was evacuated as a precautionary measure by Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta.

Delhi Police recorded the building as 40 to 50 years old. Fire department figures indicate more than a thousand building collapses were recorded across Delhi in the past three years, resulting in dozens of deaths. The National Students' Union of India called for an investigation into the cause and accountability for those found responsible. Gupta stated that "every possible effort is being made to safely rescue those trapped."