Two killed in Delhi’s Ghazipur landfill collapse

[caption id="attachment_136277" align="aligncenter" width="565"] Rescue and relief operations underway after a part of the Ghazipur garbage landfill collapsed in east Delhi on Friday afternoon. PTI Photo[/caption] New Delhi, Sep. 1 (IANS): Two persons, including a woman, were killed when a huge portion of a landfill in east Delhi’s Ghazipur collapsed on Friday afternoon, police said. The collapsed mound’s debris swept away a car and a two-wheeler, along with their riders, into the nearby Kondli canal, a police official said. He said the woman was riding the two-wheeler when the landfill portion collapsed. Joint Commissioner of Police Ravindra Yadav identified the deceased as Raj Kumari and Abhishek. Earlier, official sources said three persons had died. He said five persons were rescued and that all vehicles that fell into the canal had been retrieved. A National Disaster Response Force team was also pressed into the rescue operations. An official earlier said the woman’s body had been recovered. “Another two-wheeler rider who also fell into the canal has since been rescued. About four-five vehicles are reportedly buried under the debris,” the official had said. [caption id="attachment_136275" align="aligncenter" width="565"] A car being pulled out of a canal as the rescue operations are underway after a part of the Ghazipur garbage landfill collapsed in east Delhi on Friday afternoon.  PTI Photo [/caption] The Delhi Fire Service (DFS), which got a call about the accident around 2.45 p.m., sent four-five JCB machines for rescue operations. The official said rescue operations were on and the death toll could go up. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia went to the accident spot and blamed the BJP-ruled municipal corporation for the accident. AAP MLA from Kondli, Manoj Kumar, also blamed the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC), saying the civic body did not pay attention to the increasing height of the dumped waste at the site due to which the pile collapsed. Meanwhile, EDMC Mayor Neema Bhagat of the Bharatiya Janata Party, blamed the AAP-ruled Delhi government for what she said was “poor maintenance” of the landfill spread over 70 acres.