Elderly man, rescued after building collapsed in Kanpur, succumbs to injuries

An elderly man, who was rescued from the debris of a building that had collapsed and was being treated at the Lala Lajpat Rai hospital, succumbed to his injuries in the early hours of Tuesday, police said. The deceased was identified as Rakesh Sharma (70), a resident of Coolie Bazar, Badshahi Naka, they added.

On Monday evening, Sharma was rescued after an hour-long rescue operation carried out by fire fighters, civil police and local residents, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police (Kanpur) Preetinder Singh said. Sharma was rushed to the Ursula Horseman Memorial (UHM) hospital, from where he was shifted to the LLR hospital, but he breathed his last during treatment, the DIG said.

The police have asked the occupants of the neighbouring buildings to vacate the premises as a precautionary measure. Sharma was seriously injured when the three-story dilapidated residential building partially collapsed due to the ongoing deep excavation in an adjacent plot in the congested area on Monday night.

There was panic in the area after rumours that several people residing in the building were feared to be trapped under the debris, the Kanpur police public relations officer had said. "The building was very old and there was digging going on in the vicinity, due to which it collapsed," Inspector General Mohit Agarwal had told PTI, adding, "There are no chances of anyone being buried under the debris because the families living in the building had left."