Seven killed as wall collapses in South Delhi after heavy rains

Seven people, including two children, were killed and one was injured when a building wall collapsed onto several jhuggis in Southeast Delhi’s Hari Nagar village, Jaitpur, after heavy rainfall on Saturday.

The victims included two young girls, four men, and two women: Rukhsana (6) and Hasina (7), Muttu Ali (45), Rabibul (30), Shabibul (30), Rubina (25), and Dolly (25). The lone survivor, Hashibul, was injured and taken to Safdarjung Hospital, where he told fire department officials about the incident.

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According to the Delhi Police, the wall collapse was reported at 9.16 a.m. Local police arrived at the scene between 9:20 and 9:22 a.m. and arranged earthmover machines to clear the debris and rescue those trapped.

“Eight people were pulled out and taken to the AIIMS Trauma Centre and Safdarjung Trauma Centre. Of them, four were men, two women, and two children,” said DCP (Southeast) Hemant Tiwari.

Police said the victims were trapped after a wall near the Mohan Baba temple in Hari Nagar collapsed with a loud noise. The incessant downpour since Friday night had caused waterlogging in the area, weakening the adjacent wall, which then fell onto the shanties, they added. After the rescue operations, the shacks were evacuated, and police ensured that no one else was trapped under the debris.

Meanwhile, former Delhi Chief Minister Atishi Marlena took to social media to express grief and criticise the Delhi government for making “huge claims” about resolving waterlogging issues in the national capital, while lives continue to be lost due to even slight rain.

“The heart is deeply pained by this tragic incident. Condolences to the bereaved families. The BJP’s four-engine government makes grand claims, but the truth is that lives are being lost in Delhi. After the rain, waterlogging occurred, causing a wall to collapse, in which seven people lost their lives. Is the life of the poor worth nothing? Even a slight rain leaves Delhi in a deplorable condition,” Marlena wrote in a post.

Former Education Minister Manish Sisodia also expressed his condolences on X, calling the Jaitpur tragedy “extremely painful,” especially on a sacred day like Raksha Bandhan. “Amid heavy rain and waterlogging, a wall collapse took the lives of seven precious souls, including two innocent little girls. May God grant peace to the departed and give their families the strength to bear this unbearable pain,” he wrote.

Earlier, on July 29, in a similar incident, a decades-old boundary wall collapsed in North Delhi’s Civil Lines, near the Lieutenant Governor’s house, following heavy rain. A woman and her son died, and two others were critically injured.