A six-storey apartment block collapsed into an adjacent building in a suburb of New Delhi killing at least three people, police said on Wednesday, as rescuers searched for people feared trapped in the rubble.

 

The collapse occurred on Tuesday night in the Greater Noida area and rescue workers were moving slowly through the debris in a search for survivors, police and the rescue team said.

 

 

"The buildings collapsed like a match box. The rescue efforts are taking time since we cannot use heavy machinery to clear the rubble for fear of harming the trapped victims,” a spokesman of the National Disaster Response Force told Reuters.

 

At least 12 laborers were inside the apartment block when it fell and were feared trapped, Indian media quoted the district’s chief fire officer Arun Kumar Singh as saying.

 

Search dogs deployed at the site did not find any survivors, officials said.

 

Icmal.Az