Karnataka building collapse toll mounts to 14

Five bodies were recovered from the rubble and one person succumbed to injuries taking the toll in the under-construction building collapse near here to 14 today as an engineer wanted in connection with the construction surrendered before police.

Nineteen persons, rescued by teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Pune, and Madras Engineering Group of the Army, were undergoing treatment at a hospital here and their condition was stated to be "out of danger", official sources said.

The five-storeyed building — allegedly an "illegal" under-construction structure came crashing down an adjacent students' hostel in Gandhinagar on Tuesday night, killing eight persons and trapping 20 others.

On the second day of their operations, the rescue teams recovered five bodies while a 25-year old labourer, pulled out from underneath a beam last night, succumbed to injuries at the Vijayanagar Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital.

Five persons trapped under the debris were rescued, police said adding the rescue operations by the teams were on.

They said engineer Somashekahar, who was responsible for the construction and had been absconding since the building collapse, surrendered to police. Bellary mayor B Basavaraj has lodged a complaint against him.

Chief minister BS Yeddyurappa, who visited the mishap site and also the hospital to enquire about the condition of injured, announced an ex-gratia of Rs25,000 to each of the injured for their treatment.

He said stern action would be taken against officials who allowed construction of the building upto five floors though sanction had been secured for only two floors.