A basement flooded by days of rain is believed to have been the cause. Could this tragedy have been prevented?
It was Sunday, shortly after 1:30 in the afternoon, when the building simply gave way.
It was in the Satya Niketan area of New Delhi, was 50 years old, and repairs were underway on the ground floor at the time.
Residents of the area say that water had accumulated in the basement during several days of rain, weakening the foundations until the structure could no longer support itself. Dozens of students were inside.
So far, at least 6 deaths have been confirmed, and teams from the Delhi Police, firefighters, and the National Disaster Response Force continue searching through the rubble for another 20 or 25 people feared to remain trapped.
India’s own Home Minister, Amit Shah, contacted local authorities to closely monitor the operation, while Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta visited the site and ordered an official investigation into how a building could collapse like that, from one moment to the next.