The building had a sanctioned plan for only three floors along with a cellar. But the owners had illegally constructed an additional floor which led to the collapse of the building

An under-construction building in Bengaluru’s Pulikeshi Nagar collapsed on Wednesday morning killing five people and leaving 11 others injured. An adjacent building also tilted upon the impact of the collapse.

Fire department services, NDRF, SDRF and Civil Defence team have been rushed to the spot. According to Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the incident took place around 2 am.

“Rs 5 lakh compensation will be given to the victims’ families from the BBMP. The same will later be recovered from the building owner. Once the rescue operation is done, the entire building will be razed,” Bangalore Mayor Gangambike Mallikarjun told

According to police, the injured are being treated in a local hospital. Five of the injured are labourers. “I have instructed officials to take strict action and to demolish such buildings with illegal structures,” Mallikarjun said after visiting the site at Thomas Town in Pulikeshi Nagar.

A primary investigation by BBMP officials at the spot found that the area was earlier a marshy place. The building had a sanctioned plan for only three floors along with a cellar. But the owners had illegally constructed an additional floor which led to the collapse of the building.

Medium and Large Scale Industries Minister KJ George expressed grief at the loss of lives. “Extremely saddened to know about the loss of lives. Police, Fire officials and concerned are carrying out rescue work,” he said.

According to local residents, the two buildings tilted around 2 am and they heard a cracking sound like an earthquake when the under-construction building collapsed.