Woman, her two children die in house collapse

Husband escapes with grievous injuries

A woman and her two minor children died when the roof of their one-storey-house collapsed on them while they were sleeping in West Delhi’s Mohan Garden area on the wee hours of Monday.

The woman’s husband Susheel, 28, who was also trapped in the same room, escaped miraculously with grievous injuries.

 He is currently being treated in a local hospital.

The deceased are Manju, 26, Daksh, 4, and Tanu, 2. One buffalo tied in a shed in the house’s veranda along with eleven buffaloes also died while another one was seriously injured.

Susheel, who helps in his uncle’s dairy had come to this house few years back from Jhajjhar in Haryana. His uncle lives in the adjacent house with his family.

Police claimed that the 18-year-old house was built with mud and hence was susceptible to heavy rains. However, neighbours said that the house was built with cement but didn’t have pillars to support the structure.

The rain water which had seeped into the foundation of the building had made the structure weak, they added.

The incident happened around 1.30 am when Susheel, who works with his uncle in his dairy, and his wife and two children were sleeping in their first floor room.

Kamleshwar, his father and his brother climbed up the rubble and reached the top where an injured Susheel was groaning with pain.

“He survived because he got cover from the bed he was sleeping on. He was found behind the raised up bed,” Jagdish Kumar, Kamleshwar’s father said.

Soon Kamleshwar and his brothers found the injured Manju and her two children and pulled them out from the rubble.

Kamleshwar’s father and other locals then put the four injured in a neighbour’s van and took them to a nearby hospital where the woman and her two children were declared brought dead.

Various agencies including the Delhi Fire Services, police, municipal corporations and local administration tried to help in the rescue work.