Delhi: 6 killed in roof collapse in unit attached to dargah in Humayun Tomb complex

New Delhi: Six people, including three women, were killed and four others injured when the roof of a dwelling unit attached to a dargah in the Humayun Tomb complex collapsed in the Nizamuddin area on Friday evening, the Fire Department said.

“The roof of the single-storey structure with two rooms adjacent to Dargah Patte Wali caved in around 3.51 p.m.,” said a fire department official.

“We rushed four fire tenders with 25 firemen to the spot after receiving the information,” said a fire department official.

District Magistrate Sarvan Kumar said six people were killed in the incident, adding that some of the victims are residents of Nizamuddin, Mustafabad and Zakir Nagar.

“Teams of NDRF, DDMA, CATS Ambulance and police shifted the victims to the hospital,” he said.

Initial information has indicated that the visitors had come to meet the imam who used to make taveez or religious pendants for them, he said.

Shivansh Saini, son of Anita, 56, a resident of Jangpura who died in the incident, said, “We got a phone call saying that my mother got injured in a wall collapse. When I reached AIIMS, I was shown her photo and told that she died during treatment.”

An official said, initially, 10 people were trapped under the debris, out of whom six died on the way to the hospital.

The exact cause of the cave-in at Dargah of Hazrat Patte Shah, on the periphery of the Humayun Tomb complex, is being inquired into, but a preliminary probe indicated that the incident could be linked to the collection of rainwater on the roof and seepage in the weak structure, he said.

At the time of the incident, the dargah’s imam was also inside the building, said a rescue team official.

He said 10 people were shifted to the hospital – nine to AIIMS Trauma Centre and 1 to RML Hospital.

“Out of the nine taken to AIIMS, three women and two men were reported dead by the medical officer. The other four, including a four-year-old child, are safe,” said a fire department official

An eyewitness who was among the first responders said he heard a loud rumbling noise after which he rushed to the spot to rescue the victims.

The incident came close to two rain-related tragic incidents on Thursday, in which a motorcyclist died in the Kalkaji area in southeast Delhi after a tree collapsed on a busy road, and two children died in a wall collapse in Basant Nagar in southwest Delhi.

IANS