More bodies were retrieved from the debris of the collapsed building in Canacona town of Goa last night, taking the death toll to 17, while over a dozen more people are still feared trapped in the debris.
Rescue operation by Army personnel and local civic agencies, using earth-moving machinery, continued without a pause for the second night yesterday after the building collapsed on the afternoon of January 4.
A senior fire and emergency services officer at the site told PTI that one body was recovered late last night and another at midnight, taking the toll to 17.
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Rescuers said 15 more people are still trapped in the debris.
The five-storey building was coming up in Chawdi area of Canacona town, 70 km from here.
Police have already registered a case against the builder Vishwas Desai and contractor Jaideep Saigal. Both are untraceable, police said.
Rescue operation has been made difficult by the location of the building which stood on a narrow lane, one km off the national highway linking Goa to Karnataka.