‘She was still clutching her house keys’: Death toll in Delhi building collapse rises to 5

On a scorching Wednesday afternoon in Northeast Delhi, children were playing at the Kadimi Eidgah ground near New Seemapuri. Among the spectators was Hazra Bibi, a 60-year-old woman who had stepped out to visit a relative. As the children ran towards safety, Hazra tried to escape but the building collapsed, burying her beneath the debris.

Clutching the keys to her locked house in her right hand, Hazra was among the five victims of the collapse. The building was owned by Anwar, whose family members were also among the deceased or injured. Two young mothers and their children, as well as a pregnant woman, were killed in the tragedy. Among the injured were a woman who suffered serious facial and head injuries and her husband, a mason who was working on the structure.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi described the structure as a ground-plus-three-floor building on a small piece of land, which residents claimed had been significantly reinforced without proper foundation strengthening.