A six-storey building under construction collapsed onto an adjacent building east of the Indian capital, killing at least three people and trapping several others under the debris, police said on Wednesday (July 18).

Chief Fire Officer Arun Kumar Singh said at least 12 workers were in the building at the time and are feared trapped under rubble, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

The rescuers have so far found three bodies from the debris, police officer Ajay Pal Sharma said.

The second building also collapsed under the impact of the first building that fell on Tuesday night, he said.

The four-storey building was two years old and only one family lived there, district magistrate B.N. Singh said. One security guard and some workers on the ground floor may have been inside at the time as well.

More than 100 rescuers with cranes, sledgehammers and chain saws worked through the night to remove the debris in Shahberi village in Greater Noida, a city to the east of New Delhi.

Drills were being used to remove metal rods to reach those trapped. A dog squad was at the site smelling for signs of life.

Greater Noida is one of a cluster of areas that have sprung up around the Indian capital over the last decade, home to scores of residential and commercial blocks, many of them unfinished structures for lack of funds or approvals from the state local authorities.

The owner of the building along with his two associates has been detained for questioning, Sharma said. The cause of the building collapse was not immediately known.

BDST: 1603 HRS, JULY 18, 2018
AP