A three-storey building under construction collapsed in Old Delhi's Chawri Bazar on Thursday morning, killing two people and injuring four others, as rescue teams searched the rubble into the evening for workers feared trapped beneath the debris.

The collapse was reported at about 9:50 am from Gali Sitara, near the Chawri Bazaar Metro station. A slab was being cast on the third floor when the structure came down while labourers were at work, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Rohit Rajbir Singh told reporters. Six fire tenders and teams from Delhi Fire Services, Delhi Police, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and the National Disaster Response Force were rushed to the site.

Three people were pulled alive from the rubble, hospital authorities said. Two of them later died, and one injured person was reported to be out of danger. The identities of the dead had not been established by Thursday evening, police said, and rescue operations were continuing.

Illegal construction, officials suspended

Police said the construction was illegal. "The construction was illegal; we have already informed the Municipal authorities regarding that," DCP Singh said. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi said no building plan had been sanctioned for the 50-square-metre plot. An FIR has been registered against the building's owners and the contractor, whose identities police said had been established.

Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta visited the site and ordered an inquiry, describing the rescue as being carried out "on a war footing". The MCD suspended an assistant engineer and a junior engineer of the area with immediate effect, citing a prima facie case of serious negligence, and formed a probe committee under the Municipal Commissioner, which is expected to report within three days.

A recurring danger

Building collapses are a recurring hazard in Delhi's old city, where narrow lanes, ageing structures and unauthorised construction complicate both enforcement and rescue. The congested lanes of Chawri Bazar, one of the capital's oldest wholesale markets, make it difficult for heavy rescue equipment to reach a site, slowing the search for survivors.

The exact cause of the structural failure will be established by a formal technical investigation, the Chief Minister said. Police said action was being taken against the owners and the contractor, and the MCD inquiry is expected to examine how construction proceeded on a plot with no sanctioned plan.