5 dead, over 35 feared trapped in buildings collapse in Vadodara

Mangaloretoday/NDTV

Vadodara, Aug 28: Five people were killed and over 35 are feared trapped after two buildings collapsed in the Atladara area in the outskirts of Vadodara in Gujarat early this morning.

The three-storey buildings came crashing down at around 4:30 am, when the occupants were sleeping. Some 13-14 families were staying there, said HJ Tapariya, Chief Fire officer.

 

 

The buildings were part of a huge housing complex constructed by the Vadodara Urban Development Authority or VUDA some 35 years ago. There are 54 other similar buildings in the housing complex.

"Heard about the collapse of 2 buildings in Vadodara. Rescue operations have begun. My minister colleague Nitinbhai is on his way there," tweeted Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Frantic relatives crowded outside the complex as rescue workers tried to pull out trapped residents.

"My entire family was here - my uncle, aunt and their two children, I don’t know how they are, no one is answering the phone" said Amudan, the relative of one of the families in the building.

Vadodara civic commissioner Manish Dubey said most people were evacuated from one of the two buildings. "Our first priority is to rescue people," said Mr Dubey.