New Delhi | Nine people, including an infant, were injured on Monday when two houses collapsed in west Delhi's Nangloi area following a cylinder blast, officials said on Monday.
The Delhi Fire Services said it was informed about the collapse around 5.15 am.
Nine people were rescued by fire personnel and rushed to a hospital with the help of the public and police, a Delhi Fire Services official said.
The police rushed to the spot after houses D-1/100 and D-1/100A at Kunwar Singh Nagar, Street Number - 10 in Nangloi collapsed.
Delhi Fire Services vehicles, two PCR vans, five ambulances, a Delhi Disaster Management Authority vehicle and a minibus of the Disaster Management Service also reached the spot, a senior police officer said.
Seven people were injured in the collapse of D-1/100, an old double-storey building. Two people were hurt in the collapse of the single-storey D-1/100A, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer) Harendra Singh said.
The injured were rescued from the debris with the help of local residents and fire services staff members and admitted to Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Mangolpuri, he said.
Among the injured were five males, including a five-year-old boy, and four females, including two children aged five years and six months, the police said.
Six of the injured are out of danger. Two people have been shifted to a higher centre and a girl is in the intensive care unit, Singh said.
Crime and Forensic Science Laboratory teams were also called in.
The Forensic Science Laboratory team, however, could not examine the spot due to the buildings' hazardous condition, the police said.
Inquiries revealed that the buildings collapsed due to a cylinder blast. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi and the Subdivional Magistrate (Punjabi Bagh) were informed about the incident, they said.
The police have registered a case under sections 285 (negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible matÂter) and 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Indian Penal Code.
Ravinder Singh, a neighbour of the victims, said they rescued them from the debris after the blast.
"We heard a loud noise and rushed to the spot. When we were rescuing the victims, Simran (one of the injured victims) told us that there was a leakage in the cooking gas cylinder. The incident occurred when she was turning on the gas to warm milk for her child. We started the rescue operation within five minutes," he added.
In a separate incident, a house collapsed in west Delhi's Tagore Garden area around 11.30 pm on Sunday.
Fire officials said the house was situated opposite a Delhi Metro pillar. The building collapsed while digging was underway at an adjacent plot. No casualties have been reported.
Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Akshat Kaushal said, "Teams of police, fire services and National Disaster Response Force are at the site. The rescue operation has been going on since Sunday night. So far, no causalities have been reported. Necessary legal action is being initiated." Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the government is in contact with the rescue teams.
"Both incidents are tragic. The district administrations in both areas are engaged in relief and rescue operations. We are in constant contact with the rescue teams. I pray for everyone's wellbeing," he tweeted in Hindi
