Amritsar, September 10
Five children belonging to the family of a vegetable vendor were buried alive when the roof of their two-storeyed house collapsed near the Golden Temple complex last night.

The tragedy struck the family of Siya Ram, a vegetable seller who had come to see his nephew, Kapil who had not been keeping well for some time. However, Kapil had a providential escape as minutes before the tragedy he came out of the house. Two sons of Siya Ram, Pawan (12) and Gagan (8) along with his brother’s daughter, Anchal (13) and Sahil (8) and Guria (7), daughter of Shanker Lal, another kin were buried under the debris. They were watching television when the tragedy occurred. However, the elders were sitting outside the house. The century-old house collapsed within minutes. It took two hours to extricate the bodies. The children were taken to a hospital where they were declared brought dead.

According to eyewitnesses it was a terrible scene with children struggling to get out of heavy rubble under which they were buried. Youths of the area tried to save the kids but to no avail.

Senior officials, including Mr Narinderjit Singh, Deputy Commissioner and Senior Superintendent of Police, Mr Parmpal Singh Sidhu reached the spot immediately after the mishap.

The family of Ram Kumar has been staying in the house for the past over 50 years. Ram Kumar, it is reported, had been requesting the owner of the house, a bank manager, to get it repaired. The dispute over the repair of the house had been going on for the past five years.

According to sources some architectural experts have identified 20 such dangerous buildings which needed demolition but the municipal authorities were yet to enlist and identify these buildings.

During June more than 12 persons lost their lives in a building collapse in the vicinity of the Ghantaghar Chowk near the Golden Temple where the tragedy struck last night. Residents of the area said they had taken the issue of unsafe buildings with the corporation authorities but to no avail.