M A I N   N E W S

Three buried alive as building collapses
Our Correspondent

Amritsar, June 30
Three persons were buried alive in the debris when more than a 100-year-old building collapsed here today.

The building located in Dharake Gali near Ghantaghar Chowk near Golden Temple collapsed at about 12.30 p.m. Two minor children and their mother were buried alive.

The father of the children, Mr Hari Shankar, was saved by boys of Gali Lalawali, who promptly pulled him out of the debris before the fire engines arrived.

Mr Shankar, according to eyewitnesses, had sustained severe head injuries and has been reportedly admitted to a government hospital.

His wife Gayatri and two minor children, Guddu and Niti died in the incident after three storeys came tumbling down, taking the entire family which was lying on a double bed down till the ground floor. The family was reportedly living as tenants of Ravi who resides in Mumbai.

Councillor Dr Laxmi Narayan Tandon who was at the site was regulating the rescue efforts by the fire brigade personnel and local persons.

Eighty-year-old widowed Raj Rani, who was present in the building, had a miraculous escape after a part of the building where she was standing remained intact while just three feet away from her the building gave away.

Mr Satish Kumar, Sub-Fire Officer at the site, said at least 35 personnel of the Fire Department in addition to the locals besides four fire engines were pressed into service to extricate the bodies of the deceased.

The nearly 3 ft-wide lane could not be accessed by fire engines, hence the entire clearing was done manually.