The dead include 29 women and 17 children. Rescuers said there was little hope of finding any survivors.
With three more bodies extricated by rescuers who continued to dig through the debris at the building collapse site in east Delhi for the fourth day today, the death toll in the tragedy has climbed to 70.
The dead include 29 women and 17 children. Rescuers said there was little hope of finding any survivors.
While the body of a five-year-boy was found at 11:55pm last night, rescue workers pulled out the body of a 40-year-old woman around 12:30am from the site in Lalita Park area of Laxmi Nagar.
Seven hours later a body of a 25-year-old man was recovered from the debris, fire and medical officials said.
All the three were brought to Lok Naya Jai Prakash Hospital, its Medical Superintendent Amit Banerjee said.
With this, the death toll in the building collapse has mounted to 70.
Though yesterday's showers affected their work, rescuers today continued to remove debris from the site.
"We are going a little bit slow in breaking the concrete slabs as it supports adjoining buildings. So the debris removal is taking a little more time than usual," a senior official said.
"There may be some bodies. But there is very little chance of finding any survivor," the official said.
Relatives of those missing were making a beeline to the city hospitals to trace their loved ones.
Over 60 families, mostly labourers from West Bengal and Bihar, were living in the cramped quarters of the 15-year-old building, where an illegal fifth floor was under construction.
Eighty-two injured were receiving treatment at various hospitals in the city.
Yesterday, Delhi government appointed a one-member judicial commission to probe the incident "in view of the scale of the mishap, large number of casualties and number of complex issues connected with the incident."
The inquiry would be conducted by former Delhi high court judge Justice Lokeshwar Prashad. He will probe all aspects of the incident including whether there was any procedural, administrative and statutory lapses that led to the tragedy. He has been asked to file his report within three months.
The MCD has also asked the occupants of as many as 38 "dangerous" buildings in the East Delhi area to evacuate immediately after a survey it conducted in the area following directions from Delhi government.
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