Trauma has followed us: Delhi family had moved to new Welcome house six months before building collapse

On Saturday, their four-storey house turned to dust, and six of the 10family members died in the early morning collapse. Four other family members suffered injuries.

Trauma has followed the affected family for a while: just six months ago, Abdul Matloob Khan, 50, and his 10members of the family had shifted to Janta Colony near Welcome after a fire had broken out at their old house in Gautampuri around threekilometres away.

Rescue teams carry out operations after a building gets collapsed at Janta Colony, Welcome in New Delhi on Saturday. (Sanchit Khanna/HT PHOTO)

On Saturday, their four-storey house turned to dust, and six of the 10family members died in the early morning collapse. Four other family members suffered injuries.

“We first heard screaming and rushed to the spot. I felt so confused as to what was happening. This is a heart-wrenching tragedy, losing so many family members at once...” said Dilshad Parveen , 55, one of the neighbours who has known the family for years.

At the Guru Teg Bahadur (GTB) hospital’s emergency ward, where the injured were undergoing treatment, an atmosphere of loss and tragedy hung heavy in the air. Relatives and neighbours of the survivors, which include four neighbours, gathered at the hospital.

Mehtab, 40, a relative of the family, said, “We got to know around 8.30am. The hardest part to hear was that Ahmad, who is just 14 months’ old, is in critical condition. His mother Siza is also hospitalised and she is pregnant.”

The deceased were identified as Khan, 50, his wife Rabia, 46, their three children, Javed Khan, 23, Abdullah Khan,15, and Zubia, 27, and Zubia’s daughter, Fozia, aged two years.

As their relatives consoled each other, one of them narrated how a fire had broken out at the family’s Gautampuri house a few months ago. “Tragedy seems to be following us around,” the relative said.