Hyderabad: At least 12 people were killed and 20 injured when an 80-year-old, two-storeyed hotel building collapsed in Secunderabad area of Hyderabad in the early hours of Monday, police said.
The building of City Light Hotel, which houses a well-known tea and food restaurant, collapsed while a large number of people were enjoying their morning tea.
As news of the tragedy spread emergency services squads rushed to the site and launched an operation to rescue those trapped under the debris.
By evening the workers had recovered 12 bodies including the son of the hotel owner, Mujtaba Bulaqi.
Twenty others were taken to Gandhi Hospital for treatment. The busy Rashtarpati Road was closed and traffic was diverted to alternate routes.
Hassan Bulaqi, the owner of the hotel suffered a heart attack on hearing about the incident and death of his son. Four of the dead were identified as hotel workers Rajiv, Murli, Santosh and Manoj. Four other victims were form Orissa and one was from Nizamabad.
Rescue teams using six earth movers and a big crane were still clearing the debris late on Monday the evening. Hyderabad police commissioner Anurag Sharma and Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Commissioner T Krishna Babu were supervising the operations.
Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy who visited the scene of the building crash and saw the injured in the hospital announced an ex gratia of Rs750,000 (Dh45,392) to relatives of the victims.
Several other ministers including Dr J. Geeta Reddy, Danam Nagendar and Mukesh Goud also visited the site.
The Chief Minister reviewed the condition of the old buildings in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad with senior officials.
Krishna Babu told the media that 737 buildings were identified as old and 356 of them were declared unsafe and they could collapse any time. 16 buildings were already demolished and notices were issued to 450 others buildings. 57 of these were in Secunderabad area.
“We had not issued any notice to City Lights hotel building as it appeared to be in a good condition and safe from outside” he said. “We will know the reason for the crash only after the proper investigations”, he added.
However onlookers said that the structurally weak building collapsed under the weight of the tons of bricks loaded on the roof to construct make shift oven for cooking Haleem during Ramadan, the month of fasting.
Telugu Desam president and former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu also visited the scene of the crash and demanded a judicial probe into the incident. He said he held the government and the GHMC officials responsible for the incident.
