Two bodies were recovered from the debris of an under-construction house in Milan Garden, Harsh Vihar, in northeast Delhi, on Monday, after a slab collapsed on Sunday evening, officials said.

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The Delhi Fire Services received a call about the collapse at 6.46 pm on Sunday and sent five fire tenders to the spot. Teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), local police and Civil Defence also joined the rescue operation.

Delhi ministers Kapil Mishra and Ashish Sood visited the site on Sunday night.

Mishra said the initial assessment suggested that a new lintel was being installed when it collapsed, causing the floor below to give way. He said the circumstances surrounding the incident would be investigated.

Additional DCP Sandeep Lamba said the building was originally an old, single-storey structure, with another floor being constructed above it. The closely packed surroundings made it difficult for rescue teams to identify the exact building that had collapsed.

A local resident suggested that the collapse may have occurred while a concrete slab was being laid for the additional floor. The resident claimed the existing lower slab was weak and gave way, bringing down the newly laid slab.

The exact cause of the collapse remains to be established through an investigation.

With agency inputs