An under construction building at the Kannauj railway station of Kannauj, Uttar Pradesh collapsed on Saturday afternoon. As many as a dozen workers were trapped under the ruble. The district magistrate of Kannauj, Shubhrant Kumar Shukl along with other senior officials reached the site and began the rescue operations in full swing with utilization of all the available resources.

All the 28 workers were rescued, out of which 3 have been seriously injured. Within no time, they were rushed to the hospital. Visuals from the incident site showed havoc among the crowd amidst all the rush. There was dust all around, broken beams fallen here and there with nearby people trying to rescue the trapped workers and providing them primary help.

After visiting the site, District Magistrate (DM) Shubrant Kumar Shukl shared, “As per the preliminary information, the incident occurred when the under construction shuttering of the roof collapsed.” He further added, “Our first priority is to rescue the workers who are trapped. We are using all resources at our disposal for the rescue efforts.” Roof shuttering is kind of a temporary structure which is imposed to support the concrete while it sets over. The building was undergoing renovation as a part of the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban transformation (AMRUT) for the further infrastructural development of the Kannauj Railway station.

The CPRO of North Eastern Railways, Pankaj Singh assured monetary help to those who suffered injury in the incident. He declared, “Those critically injured will be given Rs. 2.5 lakhs each, while those with minor injuries shall be provided Rs. 50000 each. A probe is undergoing in the matter.” For the investigation, the North Eastern Railway (NER) formed a three- member committee to find out the reasons of collapse. The members are Chief Engineering for Planning and Design, the Additional Divisional Railway Manager and the Chief Security Commissioner of the Railway Protection force.

Mahesh Kumar, one of the workers who narrowly escaped the collapse shared, “As the concrete was being poured on the roof shuttering, it collapsed. Everyone standing on it fell down. I was at the edge, so I somehow managed to escape.”

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had stated the officials to safely recover the trapped workers and provide them with proper medical treatment. The State Relief commissioner Bhanu Chandra Goswami was constantly in touch with the district administration for all the necessary relief work.

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams reached at the site to ensure immediate rescue efforts. The ambulances deployed took the injured to the hospital providing them with preliminary first aid. The 16-hour long rescue operations were halted on Sunday morning. All the rescued workers are admitted to the hospital and are provide with medical treatment. No fatalities have been reported.