Over a dozen labourers were feared to be trapped under the rubble after the roof of a cold storage collapsed in Sambhal district on Thursday noon.
As per reports, the incident took place in the Chandausi township of Sambhal when the roof of a cold storage collapsed when the labourers were busy loading and dumping potato sacks on Thursday noon.
A team of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) was rushed to the spot after receiving the information, and a rescue operation was immediately carried out.
DIG (Moradabad) Shalabh Mathur claimed that no casualty was reported yet.
"A total of six people have been rescued till now. 10 people are still missing. The SDRF team is present on the spot. A rescue operation is underway. No casualty reported yet," he said.
Mathur claimed that the cold storage was reportedly constructed recently and the reason for the roof collapse was not known immediately. He said that probably the roof collapsed due to overloading.
Relief and rescue operations were being carried out by the administration, he said.
"About 10-15 people are buried under the rubble and two people have been rescued. The police force has been deployed on the spot," the district magistrate of Sambhal said.
Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Chandausi, Ramkesh Dhama, said the roof of AR Cold Storage on Islam Nagar Road in Mai village had collapsed and there was a possibility of some people being trapped under the rubble. The administration is engaged in the rescue operations, he added.
The local people were helping in the rescue operation.
Reports claim that after the collapse of the roof, there was leakage of ammonia gas and the fire brigade team had plugged the leakage.
Seven to eight backhoes (JCBs) were working to clear the rubble and rescue those buried under it.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directed the officials to carry out immediate relief and rescue work.
"In view of the accident in the cold storage in Chandausi in Sambhal district, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directed the district administration officials, SDRF and NDRF teams to conduct immediate relief and rescue work by reaching the spot," the CM Office tweeted.
Meanwhile, a dumper hit a scooty in Fatehpur police station area of Saharanpur district, killing two youths riding the two-wheeler on the spot.
According to Superintendent of Police (Dehat) Sagar Jain, Sarfaraz (18) of Fatehpur police station area was coming to Chhutmalpur market by scooty along with his partner Zuber (17). A dumper hit his scooty from behind on the Dehradun road, following which both fell on the road along with the scooty. In the meantime, another dumper coming from the front crushed both the youths, killing them on the spot.
Jain said that after the accident, the dumper driver fled with his vehicle.
Angry villagers staged a protest on the spot. A force from Fatehpur police station reached there and pacified the protesters and sent both the bodies for post-mortem.
