The four-story building collapsed Monday night in the city’s Lalita Park area, a crowded district in the eastern part of the city where many migrant laborers live.
Indian authorities said on Tuesday that the death toll had jumped to 61, with another 80 injured, the Press Trust of India reported.
About 30 people were believed still trapped under the rubble, New Delhi’s top elected official, Sheila Dikshit, said. Cries for help could be heard from beneath the piles of concrete, witnesses said, according to the Times of India newspaper.
The cause of the collapse was still being investigated, but local authorities said heavy monsoon rains may have weakened the foundation of the apartment building. Local residents told Indian media that water was seen accumulating in the building’s basement.
“The scale of the tragedy is unprecedented. I don’t think such a tragedy has taken place in Delhi in the recent past,” Ms. Dikshit said.
Police were searching for the owner of the building.
Indian media reports said the apartment building was 15 years old and primarily housed migrant workers and their families.
City officials were investigating reports that the building had an illegal fifth floor. A magisterial inquiry has been ordered into the accident, the city officials said. Unauthorized building and poor construction are often tied to building collapses in New Delhi, where spare land is prized.
The collapse follows the construction problems that plagued the recent Commonwealth Games in India’s capital. Delays in construction, unsanitary housing and the collapse of a pedestrian bridge preceded the Games, held in October.
