Temporary structure collapses at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium; 29 injured

New Delhi: At least 29 people were injured after a temporary structure erected at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in south Delhi collapsed here on Saturday morning, officials said. No death has been reported so far.

All of the injured were workers. They were working under a temporary tent when it collapsed at 11 am, a police official said, adding 18 of the injured have been admitted to AIIMS Trauma Centre and 11 at Safdarjung Hospital.

One of the injured admitted at AIIMS had to undergo surgery, police said.

A police officer said a case under IPC sections 288 (negligent conduct with respect to pulling down or repairing buildings) and 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) has been registered against the contractor at the Lodhi Colony police station.

According to a Delhi Fire Services official, two people were initially rescued from under the debris. Later, 27 more people were pulled out, he said.

An official said the tent was being erected for the wedding of a south Delhi-based businessman's daughter near gate number two of Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. The wedding is scheduled for February 24.

The whole structure was put up at the parking area near gate number 2 by a private contractor, he said, adding around 250 people had been working for the past 10 days to put up the tent.

The scaffoldings of the tent collapsed like a pack of cards, a police officer said, adding that 40 workers were trapped underneath and some of them were rescued with the help of players practising at the stadium and other staffers.

The officials of the Delhi Fire Services, National Disaster Response Force and local police reached the spot, removed the debris and brought out other trapped workers.

According to a statement from an AIIMS spokesperson, seven patients were admitted to the emergency department with severe injuries while 11 had moderate injuries.

All patients were attended to immediately in the emergency department and necessary examination, investigations and treatment were underway, it said.

The workers admitted at AIIMS have been identified as Ashish, Gopal, Sahil, Sameer, Nijam, Sujoy, Devdas Haldar, Shantu, Vikram, Amar, Shantanu, Ashok, Kanai, Sujeet, Saai Bula, Shiv Nath and Mahadev.

One injured was yet to be identified, an officer said.

Those admitted at Safdarjung Hospital have been identified as Rajendra Das, Raju, Monu Kumar, Raaj Babu, Rajeev, Phoolchand, Ram Pravesh, Ramji Paswan, Mukesh, Mahadev and Guddu Kumar.

Police said prima facie it appears that the pillars were not properly fixed to the ground which led the structure to collapse.

Due to the incident, the stadium remained closed for several hours on Saturday, an officer said.