At least 32 people died when a building in a crowded area of eastern New Delhi collapsed late yesterday, with around 20 more thought to be trapped in the rubble, officials said.

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit suggested the building, four or five storeys high, might be an unauthorised construction.

She said the structure had probably been weakened by heavy flooding brought on by some of strongest monsoon rains in decades which saw the nearby river Yamuna, which runs through Delhi, break its banks.

“I think it is the carelessness of the builder who did not build a strong enough building to withstand a flood that came about a month ago,” she told the NDTV news channel.

Delhi’s health minister Kiran Walia told the Press Trust of India news agency that 32 people had been killed, while R.C. Sharma, Delhi’s top fire officer, said he believed there were still between 20 and 25 people in the wreckage.

“We have a total 83 injured and admitted to three hospitals,” M.P. Singh in the Delhi police control room said.

“We have identified the owner of the building and will be questioning him shortly.”

The building is believed to have been mostly residential, but some reports said it also contained a cloth exporting company and a food snacks group.

Many of the injured and dead were pulled by bystanders from the crumpled slabs of concrete and pulverised bricks and mortar piled up at the site of the former building, witnesses said.

It caved in at around 8.15 p.m. local time in the congested working class Lalita Park area of Laxmi Nagar, where narrow lanes made it difficult for rescue services to bring in heavy lifting equipment.

“The rescue effort will go on all night,” fire chief Sharma told NDTV.

Enforcement of building regulations is lax in the Indian capital and minor accidents are common. The construction industry is also riddled with corruption, leading to the use of substandard materials.

The much-delayed and over-budget Delhi Commonwealth Games in October shone an unflattering light on many industry practices.

An investigation by India’s leading anti-corruption body concluded that sub-standard concrete and anti-corrosion coatings for steel had been used in a host of public works, while safety certificates also appeared to have been faked.

“The enquiry that we will set up tomorrow will bring out the truth and will hopefully identify those that are guilty either individually or collectively,” Chief Minister Dikshit said.

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