13 members of same family killed in Indian building collapse

A building under construction has collapsed in Uttar Pradesh, northern India, killing 13 people who are thought to be members of the same family. 

At least two of the building’s three storeys had been completed when the disaster occurred. Twelve of the inhabitants who were sleeping on the ground floor were reported dead at the scene and one later died in hospital. Three others managed to escape. 

Chandauli Muniraj, a police superintendent, said the cause of the collapse was under investigation. He added that the structure was erected quickly: "Within a month, they’d built two storeys," he said.  

According to Muniraj, the victims included Mohammad Kamarrudin, the building’s owner, and two children under the age of eight. 

Police are looking to interview the building contractor. Meanwhile, operations are under way to retrieve the bodies from the rubble. 

The building was in in Dulhipur, 300km southeast of Lucknow, the state capital of Uttar Pradesh. 

India buildings have suffered from a number of failures in recent years. Last January, 17 were killed in in the state of Goa and 61 died in a partly constructed building in Chennai, in the south of the country, last July. On that occasion, many were left under the rubble three days after the collapse. 

Photograph: Rescue workers search for victims after a building collapse in Canacona, western Goa, in January 2014 (STR/AFP/Getty Images)