One feared trapped in Kota building collapse

A two-storied building housing a restaurant-cum-beer-bar came crumbling down at the Dhanmandi area under Gumanpura police station area in Kota around 11 am on Saturday.

Although no lives were lost, one person, Saddham, is feared trapped under the rubble. Four victims, all employees of the bar, were rescued live from the debris. 

The collapse caused panic in the nearby busy market area, circle in charge (CI) at Gumanpura police station Anand Yadav said.

Rescue operation by NDRF, SDRF, civil defence and the Kota Municipal Corporation (KMC) staff was immediately started after reports about the building collapse poured in. It took the team about an hour to rescue the four. Three of them – Jitendra Meena (20), a resident of Baran district, Budhiprakesh (26) of Budhadite village of Kota district and Vinay Roy (53) of Kota railway station area – suffered minor injuries and were undergoing treatment at Bhim Singh (MBS) hospital while the fouth victim escaped unhurt.     

The reason behind the collapse of the building is yet to be ascertained, Yadav added.

Fire officer at KMC Amzad Khan said that the rescue operation was on for the last six hours. Top police and administrative officials including Kota district collector Rohit Gupta, IG Kota range Vishal Bansal and KMC commissioner Vikram Jindal rushed to the spot immediately after the building collapsed and were monitoring the rescue operation.