Six persons were injured, including one grievously, when the ceiling of a dilapidated old building collapsed today in the Walled City area in Delhi.
The incident took place this afternoon in Pataudi House area in Old Delhi, when the ceiling of the ground floor of the two-storeyed building caved in, said a senior civic official, who inspected the site after the mishap.
The injured were rushed to LNJP Hospital, where the condition of one is said to be serious.
"Six persons were brought in at 1:30 PM at the hospital (LNJP) and the condition of one (Raju) was very serious till evening, who had sustained head injury," a senior doctor at the LNJP Hospital said.
The injured persons have been identified as -- Raju (40), Nathu Ram (50), Baldev Singh (60), Lal Singh (45), Rakesh (39) and Kailash (34), he said.
The colonial-era building, made of lime and mortar ('surki-china'), lies adjacent to an old orphanage, and the six persons were employed by it. The orphanage claims that it owns the building and its campus. The ground floor of the ramshackle building, houses some small godowns.
"The six persons were our employees, mason, carpenters, among others, who were inside the room when the incident took place. They have been taken to a hospital," a senior official of the orphanage said.
The official alleged that parts of the areas of the building and it campus have been "encroached upon" by squatters, and claimed the orphanage has already "filed a case" to "get back" the land.
The area falls under the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) and a team of senior officials visited the building and inspected the site.
Police, who also inspected the accident site, said that they were still awaiting to receive any formal complaint in this regard.
