Two Killed, Five Rescued After Two-Storey Building Collapses in Chandigarh Industrial Area

The exciting first chapter of a brand-new business venture turned into an absolute nightmare in Chandigarh's Industrial Area, Phase 2, when a 50-year-old building suddenly collapsed over the weekend.

The tragedy has killed two business partners and injured five construction workers, transforming a routine renovation project Saturday afternoon into a multi-agency rescue effort.

A Shattered Dream

The two men who died have been identified as Tarun Jain and Tarun Kaushik, both from Meerut. They were part of a team of partners that had leased the commercial property only ten days earlier, with plans to refurbish the space and open a brand-new two-wheeler motorcycle dealership.

Sadly, both partners were on the ground floor supervising the work when the structure collapsed, and another partner had stepped outside just before the collapse and was unharmed.

The entire building trembled.

The incident happened around 4:30 p.m. Saturday. In the crowded industrial block, survivors and witnesses described a sudden and terrifying tremor.

The Cave-In: Those inside the building said they felt the building shake momentarily before the heavy concrete roof and supporting lintel came crashing down, burying all under a mountain of dust and heavy debris.

First Rescue: Local police, firefighters and civil defence teams arrived on the scene within minutes. Five construction workers, Umesh, Kuldeep, Kulvir, Rahul and Ajit, were rescued in a frantic search through the immediate rubble. They were shifted to the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) in Sector 32, where they are in stable condition.

Five-Hour Race Against Time

Jain and Kaushik were trapped deep beneath large concrete slabs, and the workers were released relatively quickly. The operation was so sensitive that the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) had to be roped in to spearhead it.

Rescuers drilled carefully through the concrete with heavy earth-moving machinery, cutters and JCBs. Medical personnel had been pumping oxygen into the gaps in the rubble for hours, desperately trying to keep the trapped men alive. The NDRF teams said one of the men was conscious and communicating from under the debris at the start. But after a gruelling five-hour struggle, both men were pulled out around 10:00PM but were pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.

Early signs point to serious structural deficiencies, compounded by the age of the facility. Investigators are looking into whether workers may have accidentally compromised or removed a load-bearing beam or other critical structural support while replacing front glass panels because it was an old, decades-old structure.

The local administration has announced a city-wide safety audit of older commercial and industrial buildings in the wake of the tragedy so that no one else has to go through a disaster like this.