Chandigarh: Digging by JCB brings down nearby building

Chandigarh : A three-storey commercial building collapsed while digging work was on at an adjoining site in Punjab's Mohali district on Saturday, leaving several people trapped under the debris, officials said.

A magisterial probe has been ordered into the incident which occurred on Kharar-Landran road, about 20 km from here, they said.

"The commercial building collapsed when a JCB machine was digging an adjoining plot for construction of basement," Kharar Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Himanshu Jain said.

Two persons were rescued and one of them admitted to a local hospital with a fractured arm. Two other trapped persons including the JCB machine operator were in touch with rescue workers through mobile phones for some time, said Jain adding the rescuers were close to reaching them.

The officials said the heavy earth moving machine might have hit the foundation of the building, but added that the exact cause of the incident would be known after the inquiry.

A 30-member team of the National Disaster Response Force was engaged in the rescue operation and one more NDRF team from Ludhiana has also been called, the SDM, adding that police and civil administration personnel and members of some NGOs were also providing assistance in the rescue operation.