building collapse
[Representational Image]Reuters

A three-year-old girl was pulled out alive on Thursday from under the debris of the seven-storey under construction building, which collapsed in Kanpur's Jajmua suburb in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday. She has been reunited with her father.

At least seven people, most of whom were labourers, lost their lives, while over 30 were injured and about the same number of people are still trapped under the debris of the building as personnel from police, Indian Army and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) continue efforts to rescue them. The toll is expected to rise.

Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh Police have filed an FIR against Samajwadi Party leader Mahtab Alam, the owner of the under construction building that collapsed in Kanpur's Jajmau suburb on Wednesday, and a contractor, who was in-charge of constructing the building. According to reports, the reason behind the incident was the weak foundation of the building.

According to Kanpur's Deputy Inspector General of Police Rajesh Modak, the seven-storey under construction building that collapsed on Wednesday afternoon was situated adjacent to the popular Allah-o-Akbar Masjid in the Kanpur Development Authority Colony.

Five officials of Kanpur Development Authority have also been suspended in connection with the building collapse.

"Around 30 people are still trapped. Rescue operation will take time due to the nature of structure of the building," Alok Singh of the NDRF told ANI.

At least three people have been rescued and rushed to Kanshi Ram Memorial Trauma Centre. The Hindustan Times quoted doctors as saying that the rescued people were in critical condition.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter to offer condolences and said: 

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh also tweeted regarding the incident and said: "Spoke to DG NDRF regarding the news of an under construction building collapse in Kanpur. Two teams are rushing to the spot for rescue ops." He also offered his condolences in another tweet that said: "I offer my condolences to those who lost their loved ones in Kanpur building collapse. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured."

According to HT, the building had been under construction for over a year and falls under the housing project of SP leader Alam, who was the former district party president.

Local residents also initially tried to clear the rubble and rescue people, but their efforts went in vain. Later, earth-moving machines working on the Kanpur-Lucknow highway were called in to assist in the rescue operations.

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