Chawri Bazar Building Collapse: 2 Dead, Several Feared Trapped as 3-Storey Building Falls in Old Delhi

Chawri Bazar building collapse: two people were killed and several are feared trapped after a three-storey under-construction building collapsed in Old Delhi's Chawri Bazar on Thursday morning, November 5, 2026. Reported at around 9.50 am from Gali Sitara, near Chawri Bazaar Metro station, it has brought NDRF and Delhi Fire Service teams to the site, still searching the debris for survivors.

Delhi Police told news agency ANI that two people had died and one person was injured. Four people were rescued from the rubble, according to News18, while a Delhi Fire Service official told India TV that at least 15 people were feared trapped. Other outlets reported several people feared trapped, and the exact number inside the building has not been officially confirmed.

Chawri Bazar Building Collapse: What Happened in Gali Sitara

The building had been under construction for the last three to four months, an eyewitness told India TV. Mohd Nayeem, who lives nearby, said he was asleep when he heard a crashing sound at around 9.00 or 9.30 am. He said three or four lintels had already been cast and they all collapsed at once, and that labourers were working in the building when it came down. The fire department said it received the call at 9.50 am, and at least six fire units, including water tenders and rescue vehicles, were rushed to the spot.

• Around 9.00-9.30 am: residents hear a crashing sound as the under-construction building in Gali Sitara comes down, according to eyewitness Mohd Nayeem.
• 9.50 am: the fire department receives the call, and six fire units, including water tenders and rescue vehicles, are rushed to the spot.
• Morning: NDRF teams begin search and rescue at the site, with Delhi Police, the fire service, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) involved.
• Late morning: Delhi Police confirm two deaths and one injury, four people have been rescued, and a fire service official says at least 15 people are feared trapped.

Senior officers are supervising the operation, which is complicated by the location itself. Gali Sitara sits in one of Old Delhi's most crowded wholesale markets, where narrow lanes and heavy pedestrian movement make it hard to move heavy equipment in. The collapse also came during the Diwali shopping rush, when Chandni Chowk and Chawri Bazar draw even larger crowds than usual.

Why the Rescue Numbers Keep Changing

The numbers have seemed to move through the morning because the rescue was still under way while the reports were being written. Early reports said several people were feared trapped; a fire service official later told India TV that at least 15 were feared trapped, while News18 reported four rescued and two feared trapped. Until the debris is fully cleared, no count of the trapped can be treated as final.

Political Row Over Building Safety in Delhi

The collapse quickly turned political. AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj criticised Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, saying the government and the MCD had conducted multiple safety audits of buildings in Delhi, yet buildings keep collapsing. He alleged that safety audits were ordered repeatedly without real action. The cause of the Chawri Bazar collapse itself is not yet known, and officials said further details were awaited.

A Pattern of Building Collapses in the Capital

The Chawri Bazar collapse is the latest in a series of building failures in Delhi in recent months. Days earlier, two men were killed when two slabs gave way in the Milan Garden area of northeast Delhi. On October 7, a four-storey building collapsed in Seemapuri, killing three people, including a child. On September 6, a five-storey paying guest accommodation collapsed in Satya Niketan, killing seven people.

Days earlier, a portion of the over 160-year-old MCD Town Hall in Chandni Chowk collapsed on October 31, after two days of heavy rain. The heritage structure, built in 1863 and the centre of municipal administration for nearly 145 years, had already been declared unsafe and cordoned off. The collapse brought down the roof and two massive beams of its entrance porch and damaged the facade and first floor. No casualties were reported, but it underlined how fragile many of Old Delhi's ageing structures have become.

Chawri Bazar Building Collapse: Frequently Asked Questions

The rescue at Gali Sitara is still under way, and the confirmed toll may change as teams clear the debris. What is already clear is that Delhi has seen too many of these collapses in too short a time, and the questions about construction oversight and safety audits are being asked again, in the middle of the Diwali rush, in one of the city's busiest markets.