Five of family die as roof of house partially collapses in UP

LUCKNOW: Five members of a family, including three children, died when a portion of the roof of their house here collapsed on Saturday morning, police said.

The incident took place in Anand Nagar railway colony under the Alambagh police station area. According to railway officials, the building had been declared "condemned" and the family had been asked to vacate the house but it did not do so, police said.

Station House Officer (SHO) Shiv Shankar Mahadevan told PTI that Satish Chandra (40) and his family members were fast asleep when the roof of their house collapsed partially.

Sanitation workers informed the police about the incident around 8 am, following which teams of police personnel and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) reached the spot, he said.

Chandra, his wife Sarojini Devi (35) and their children Harshit (13), Harshita (10) and Ansh (5) died in the incident, he said.

Fire department officials said information about the incident was received around 8:10 am.

The five family members were pulled out from the rubble by locals and later admitted to the nearest hospital by the fire department, they said.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Upendra Kumar Agarwal told PTI that railway officials informed him that the building had been declared "condemned" and a notice was served to the residents of the house to vacate it but they did not comply.

The house was "on the brink of collapse", he said.

Chandra's mother worked with the railways and the house was allotted to her. After she passed away, Chandra was to be given a job on humanitarian grounds as he was dependent on her, Agarwal said.

Lucknow District Magistrate Surya Pal Gangwar also visited the area to take stock of the situation.

In a post on X, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressed grief over the loss of lives in the incident.