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  • 1 week ago
A multi-storey paying guest accommodation collapsed in Delhi's crowded Satya Niketan area. The tightly packed building housed numerous students and young residents in cramped rooms along narrow corridors. Ongoing construction work was underway in the basement, where narrow and exposed concrete pillars bore the load of multiple upper floors. Weak basement support structures coupled with heavy rain led to the sudden structural failure, causing the entire building to crash down into a heap of debris within seconds.

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00:00But speaking about which, let's give you a bigger picture now.
00:02What exactly was the building like that collapsed?
00:05How were the students or residents there really living?
00:09And what led to the actual collapse here?
00:12My colleague Akshita explains what led to the tragic incident
00:15with AI-generated images depicting the incident.
00:19Take a look.
00:29This is the Satya Niketan area of Delhi.
00:32The PG is right here.
00:34Along this narrow, busy stretch, buildings all packed closely on either sides.
00:41And as you can see, there are homes, there are shops,
00:44there are small establishments all opening onto the street.
00:49This particular lane and the PG behind me, the building that collapsed,
00:53is one of several buildings standing almost wall to wall
00:56in the supremely crowded neighborhood.
00:58There's very little space between any of the buildings.
01:02So this is what the stretch looked like.
01:08Now let's transport you inside the building, inside this PG.
01:13Again, cramped.
01:15Rooms lined up on both sides of this narrow corridor.
01:18It's one after another.
01:20And within these rooms, very small rooms,
01:22a large number of young residents staying,
01:26all accommodated within this limited space.
01:29Even the common areas beyond this corridor,
01:31the passageways that I'm in, all tightly packed,
01:34giving you a sense of just how crowded this building, this PG is.
01:40But here's what was happening.
01:42Down in the basement, while all of those students are living above,
01:45construction work is underway.
01:48Workers are moving around their exposed pillars clearly in the basement,
01:54and that's supporting the entire structure above.
01:58Look at how much of the building actually stands on these few concrete supports.
02:03There are multiple floors, as I showed you before.
02:06Rooms, all of the weight of all of those floors, those rooms,
02:09it comes on to these pillars.
02:11The pillars are relatively narrow,
02:13and amid that, these workers continuing to work.
02:16The spaces between them are very tight.
02:18They're not spaced out.
02:20And yet, they're carrying the load of all of the floors above.
02:24The construction, incomplete.
02:26So work is going on.
02:28The entire support structure is clearly visible here.
02:32And that gives you a closer look at exactly what's holding the building up.
02:36The warning signs are there.
02:38Nobody cared.
02:39Nobody did anything about it.
02:40It was ignored.
02:44A weak basement, a weak base, pouring rain.
02:47In a matter of seconds, it's all gone.
02:49It just takes seconds for the entire building to come crashing down.
02:53The structure suddenly gives way.
02:55The upper floors began collapsing into each other.
02:59And then the whole building just falls in on itself.
03:04The concrete slabs crash down.
03:06There's nothing left of the walls.
03:08And a huge cloud of dust shoots into the air,
03:13completely engulfing the entire structure.
03:16What I showed you before was this now.
03:18Floor after floor disappears in front of us.
03:21And the building is reduced to nothing.
03:23There's just a heap of concrete and debris left behind.
03:27I've brought you this rooftop view
03:29because that gives you a sense of the sheer speed,
03:33the sheer scale of the collapse.
03:35That multi-storied building with so many rooms,
03:39with so many youngsters disappearing,
03:41even before you can blink.
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