India building collapse leaves five dead

NEW DELHI, Sept 26 (AFP): Five people were killed on Wednesday when an apartment block collapsed in New Delhi, crushing residents beneath mountains of concrete, in the latest building accident to hit India.

Rescuers combing the wreckage with sniffer dogs in Delhi's north pulled out at least a dozen people who were trapped beneath the rubble.

"We can confirm the deaths of five people. Rescue teams at the site are still clearing the debris," local police official Sarat Chandra Nirmal told AFP.

An AFP photographer at the scene saw the bodies of two children being pulled from the rubble.

The block was located in a cramped, middle-class neighbourhood where many buildings share common walls.

The Press Trust of India quoted an unnamed local official saying the building was 20-years-old and structurally unsound.

Other local media reported the fourth floor of the block was illegally constructed.