More feared to be trapped in the rubble: Building collapse

Search operation for at least four more people feared to be trapped under the rubble of the 5-storey building that collapsed in Kasavanahalli will continue for two more days.

Sources from the spot said that there are bodies of a mother, child, a painter and another man buried somewhere in the rubble. However, police and rescue officials said that no one approached them about missing people.The officials are gathering information from the nearby residents if the claimed mother and child had no known people around. The search for them is underway.

"Search operation and clearing of debris will continue even after Sunday. Around 70% of the rubble has been cleared by Saturday evening and we will check into the basement area if anyone is still trapped there," said Basavanna, Chief Fire Officer (CFO) speaking to DH.

"Since it is more than 48 hours into the incident, chances are very bleak to find anyone alive in the rubble and if we find anyone, it would be a miracle," said CFO Basavanna.

Ruckus Over Postmortem & Using Heavy Machinery

Family members of the victim created a ruckus on Friday when the bodies were retrieved of Hazareth and Rajasab. Victims' kin did not want the bodies to be sent for postmortem examination and protested against the rescue workers. However, the rescue workers tried to convince them that they would not get compensation if bodies would not undergo postmortem.

The kin also protested against the use of heavy machinery to break into the building columns believing if anyone was trapped alive inside, they would be killed.

Crew At Work:

Over 200 personnel

- Fire and Emergency Service (100)

- NDRF (50)

- SDRF (10)

- Police (35)

- Civil Defence (5)

Two Hitachi breakers, Two JCBs, and Three Tippers were at work clearing debris. NDRF used hydraulic, bolt, diamond and gas cutters to cut open the columns of the building structure.

Samples of Building sent to the lab:

BBMP officials collected samples of iron, steel, concrete, solid cement bricks, and other construction materials from the site and sent it to a laboratory for quality assessment. "We were informed that the construction material used for building this structure was substandard and hence we have collected samples of everything and sent for quality check," Prakash, Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE) BBMP told DH.

Arrests and search

The Bellandur police have arrested Tanveer Khan, the GPA holder of the building on Friday. The collapse killed four men and injured more than 15 others.

According to police, Tanveer Khan and Krishnakant Reddy were in-charge of the renovation of the old building to convert it into a paying guest accommodation with 15 units. Tanveer had taken the GPA from building owner Rafiq and Sameera, and started renovating the old structure with the help of his associate, Reddy who is presently absconding, the police said.

The police had detained Rafiq's wife Sameera who was the co-owner of the building. The police also have picked up the Executive Engineer Munireddy for questioning, but the accused Rafiq and his father-in-law Kunh Ahmed from Kerala are absconding, the police added. Efforts are on to arrest them.