Delhi PG Collapse Survivor Recounts Hour-Long Ordeal Under Rubble

A student who survived the collapse of a paying-guest building in Delhi's Satya Niketan area has described being buried under debris for more than an hour, as he and a friend waited for rescue teams to reach them.

Nitesh Chib, a second-year B.Com student at Delhi University, was in his room at the HostelDaze PG on Sunday afternoon when the structure gave way moments after he finished lunch. He and his friend were pinned under the rubble.

According to Chib, his friend managed to send his WhatsApp location and SOS messages to friends, who alerted rescue teams. The two were pulled out after roughly ninety minutes, injured and bleeding.

"My whole body was numb. I could not feel anything. I realised I was bleeding. I came to my full senses a while later in the hospital," Chib said.

He said the students living at the PG had no inkling that the building was structurally weak. It looked normal from the outside, with no cracks or other warning signs, he said, adding that some work had been going on in the basement for over a week before the building suddenly crashed.

Seven people, including five students, were killed and several others injured in the collapse.

An FIR registered in the case states that the owners, Hariram Bansal alias Gupta and his brother, were aware that the building's old foundation could not bear additional weight but went ahead with constructing four extra floors, allegedly driven by the prospect of higher rental income. The added floors and construction, the FIR says, placed immense stress on the building's structural integrity and load-bearing capacity, pushing the decades-old structure beyond its limits.

Recovering from his injuries and the trauma, Chib appealed to the government to enforce safety rules strictly and inspect such buildings regularly. Students who come to Delhi to study have little choice but to stay in such accommodations, he said, and it is for the authorities to ensure that safety norms are followed.