Bengaluru apartment collapses; residents evacuate in time to avert mishap [Photos]

On Thursday, October 7, residents of an apartment in Kasturi Nagar, near the Banaswadi area of North East Bengaluru averted a major mishap by evacuating the building just in time before its collapse. The incident occurred around early afternoon and the police and fire brigade barricaded the area by 5 pm in light of a possible gas pipe leak situation. While all seven residents averted the accident, a pet dog is still stuck in the building.

Ramamurthy Nagar police inspector Melvin Francis confirmed with International Business Times that there have been no casualties and a mishap was indeed avoided in the nick of time. 

A young resident of the building and owner of the pet was visibly shaken and in tears as her plea to rescue the pet went unheeded. Her father who lived nearby shared with IBTimes, "My daughter and son-in-law live in this apartment. They were away while the incident happened, but their pet is still stuck inside."

He added, "We have tried speaking to the fire officials; they can break open the glass window and help the pet out but I don't know if they will do it."

Talking about how the incident unfolded, the watchman going by the name Khattpad, shared, "I was eating lunch around 12.30 pm when I heard some stones falling down. Soon, there was a cracking sound. I ran up to inform the residents and soon after we vacated the building, it came down." Although the apartment which was constructed just 5-6 years ago, according to the residents in the neighborhood, had eight flats, only three families including seven people occupied the building.

The BBMP engineer on the site refused to reveal his name and only commented that their team is looking into the probable cause of the collapse. 

Rashmi Ayyappa, owner of the independent house on which the apartment fell mentioned that some construction work was ongoing on the terrace of the collapsed building. "I don't stay here but my mother lived here until some time back. Our house was vacant but our security guard used to go every day to check if everything is okay. He informed me around 2 pm that the adjacent building is collapsing," she shared adding, "There was construction work happening on the terrace of the building but cannot say if something went wrong with that." 

Last week, the staircase passage of a three-story building of Bangalore Milk Union Limited collapsed near Dairy Circle on Bannerghatta Road, just a day after the building collapsed in Lakkasandra. According to reports, officials had found out that the owner had constructed an additional structure that added to the load.