Indian rescuers have pulled eight bodies from the rubble of a three-storey building in the northern city of Lucknow, according to reports, with the state’s chief minister describing the deaths as “heartbreaking”.
The Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency on Sunday broadcast images of piles of concrete and state rescue teams with heavy digging machines searching for bodies.
PTI quoted officials as saying that eight bodies have been recovered and 28 people have been injured.
Yogi Adityanath, chief minister of Uttar Pradesh state, where Lucknow is based, called the death “heartbreaking” in a statement, and offered his condolences to the bereaved families of the dead.
A commercial building used by several small companies, including a warehouse and a vehicle workshop, collapsed on Saturday afternoon.
It is not clear if others are still trapped.
The cause of the collapse was not immediately established.
But Akash Singh, working in the building, said that a pillar had cracked.
He went to the ground floor fearing worse, heavy monsoon rains ravaged the city.
“Suddenly, the entire building collapsed on us,” Singh was quoted as saying by PTI.
The Times of India newspaper quoted witnesses as saying that two trucks collided with the building while unloading goods in recent days, possibly causing the collapse.
According to Hindustan Times, the police also reported that some construction work was going on when the building, built around four years ago, collapsed.
Building and construction accidents are common during India’s June-September monsoon season, with old and dilapidated structures succumbing to days of continuous rain.
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