Kin blame slow pace of rescue for loss of lives, ‘unchecked construction’ for collapse

New Delhi: Anguish turned to outrage at the site of the tragedy as grieving families, students and locals alleged vital delays and a slow rescue effort cost precious lives.

They claimed that rescuers arrived late, lacked several vital pieces of equipment like cutters, and ignored specific pointers to where victims lay trapped. The grieving families also alleged that the lack of proper monitoring of rampant construction activities inside the building was directly responsible for the tragedy.

“They only had one cutter when the rescue began. When we raised a hue and cry, additional cutters were procured,” alleged Prateek Yadav, who was among the first to reach the site.

Neelam, the daughter of Parvati, who used to run the canteen on which the building collapsed, as well as several students, claimed they could hear cries for help from beneath the rubble until around 10 pm.

Neelam also alleged that the rescue effort appeared disorganised. A sniffer dog was not being properly guided, and repeated inputs regarding Parvati’s likely location under the debris were ignored. According to the family, 12 hours after informing the rescuers where she might be trapped, debris had not been cleared from that area. They maintained that she would have been alive had the response been more targeted and quicker.

Ashutosh, a friend of two of the deceased, Nalin and Kapil, too, said more lives could have been saved. “Nalin remained buried under the debris for nearly 12 hours before being pulled out in the morning. The pace of rescue was very slow during the night,” he claimed.

Other students also echoed Ashutosh. Requesting anonymity, one of them said, “Had the operation been faster, more people could have been pulled out sooner. My friend, Aastha, was rescued only around 11.30 pm, while another, Ravi Prakash Verma, was brought out around midnight. By then, it was too late for him.” He did not survive.

Another said, “While police quickly reached the spot, specialised rescue teams arrived much later, many of them only around 10 pm.”

Others present at the site said the initial rescue effort was largely spearheaded by locals and fellow students, who manually removed rubble and managed to pull out four or five people.

They alleged that the authorities later stopped them from continuing, citing safety concerns, but did not move quickly enough to launch a full-scale rescue operation. Several witnesses claimed that heavy machinery remained idle for extended periods even as little rubble was being cleared.

Family members of Ravi questioned the role of civic authorities in allowing additional construction activities in the building. “If it was going on, it should have been flagged and monitored,” said his father, Ram Prakash Verma. “If the person carrying out the construction is responsible, the agency that allowed it to happen without intervention is equally culpable.”

Several of Ravi’s friends argued that the rainfall alone could not have been the trigger for the collapse. “We believe that the ongoing construction work played a major role,” one of his friends said.