Fatalities in the collapse of two buildings in India on Saturday has risen to 27, with more victims believed to be underneath the debris, officials told CNN.
The first incident occurred Saturday morning in New Delhi, when 10 people died after a dilapidated four-story building collapsed to the ground. Another 17 people lost their lives when an 11-story building crumbled just hours later in the city of Chennai in Tamil Nadu state. Officials say dozens more could still be trapped in the remains of the second building, which was under construction.
"Fifty workers were believed to be present at the construction site at the time of the collapse," Chennai Police Commissioner Sebastian George told CNN. "Rescue operations are still on."
Five children and three women were among the victims who died when the New Delhi residential building collapsed, Madhur Verma, Deputy Commissioner of Police, told the station. Investigators do not yet know what caused the nearly 50-year-old residential building to fall, but an adjacent building that was under construction at the time could have played a role.
The cause of the second collapse in the southern city of Chennai was also not immediately known. However, the area saw heavy rainfall at the time of the incident. Rescue teams were able to save at least 24 people from the rubble.
As of Monday nearly 30 people are believed to be trapped, according to the Wall Street Journal.
S. P. Selvan, Deputy Inspector General of the National Disaster Relief Force, said it could take another two days for workers to sift through all of the debris, CNN reported.
In the meantime, five people including developers and engineers have been arrested in connection to the Chennai incident, the WSJ reported.
India has had its share of building collapses. Failure to enforce building codes and rudimentary equipment has resulted in hazardous building conditions and hundresds of fatalities.
At least 67 people died in September when a city-owned building collapsed in Mumbai.
