Century-old building collapses in Kolkata, 2 killed

Kolkata: A portion of an almost century-old building, declared dangerous by civic authorities, collapsed here on Tuesday killing two people, a senior Kolkata Police officer said.

The bodies of Himadri Pahar (38) and Hansa Shau (20) were found from the rubble of the 10 Mirror Street building in central Kolkata’s Taltala area in the evening, he said.
“They were trapped in the debris since the collapse which happened around 12.45 pm. Both were found dead after a preliminary check-up,” the officer said.

While the building’s residents managed to rush outside, saving their lives, Pahar and Shau weren’t so lucky.

Pahar, who hailed from North 24 Parganas district, was staying on rent, while the woman, Shau, was living with her family in the building, that had been declared “dangerous” by the city civic body.

An extensive search has been carried out and no more people are trapped inside, the officer said. “There is still some debris which needed to be cleared, which we are doing.”

Two fire tenders, a large fire department team, Disaster Management units of Kolkata Police as well as local police personnel were deployed for the search operation, the officer said.

During the operation, nearby buildings, which were also quite old, were evacuated and vehicular movement on the adjacent road was stopped.

City mayor and Fire Services Minister Sovan Chatterjee also rushed to the spot.