NEW DELHI: A building collapse in southern India left eight people dead on Friday, an official said, the latest such disaster in the country known for its dilapidated properties and poor quality construction.
The group were among 11 employees of a state-run transport company, including bus drivers and cleaners, who were sleeping in the 60-year-old, two story office block near a bus depo when a portion of it caved in.
“It was an old building that suddenly collapsed while the staff were asleep,” said C Suresh Kumar, the top government official for Nagapattinam district in Tamil Nadu state, where the incident occurred.
He said emergency workers had managed to rescue three of the workers from under tons of debris, who were being treated for their injuries at a government-run hospital.
The state government has also offered $2,300 in compensation to the victims’ families.
Building disasters are common in Indian cities where millions are forced to live in cramped, run-down properties due to spiraling real estate prices and a lack of housing, while activists say owners often cut corners on construction to save costs.
At least six people were killed on Monday when an apartment block collapsed in Bangalore city after a gas tank explosion, and more than 30 perished in September when a 117-year-old apartment building collapsed in Mumbai.
Building collapse in south India kills eight
Building collapse in south India kills eight
Over 3,000 migrants died in 2025 trying to reach Spain: aid group
- More than 3,000 migrants died while trying to reach Spain this year, a report released by a Spanish migration rights group said on Monday
MADRID: More than 3,000 migrants died while trying to reach Spain this year, a report released by a Spanish migration rights group said on Monday, a sharp decline from 2024 as the number of attempted crossings fell.
Caminando Fronteras (Walking Borders) said most of the 3,090 deaths recorded until December 15 took place on the Atlantic migration route from Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands, considered one of the world’s most dangerous.
While there has been a “significant” decrease in migrant arrivals in the Canaries, “a new, more distant and more dangerous” route to the archipelago has emerged with departures from Guinea, it said.
The group compiles its figures from families of migrants and official statistics of those rescued. It included 437 children and 192 women among the dead.
Caminando Fronteras also noted there had been a rise in the number of boats leaving from Algeria, mainly to the holiday islands of Ibiza and Formentera in the Mediterranean.
Traditionally used by Algerians, the route is seeing a surge of migrants from Somalia, Sudan, and South Sudan in 2025, the group said.
The number of deaths on this route had doubled this year to 1,037 when compared to 2024, it added.
At least 10,457 migrants died or disappeared while trying to reach Spain by sea in 2024, according to Caminando Fronteras, the highest number recorded since it began tracking data in 2007.
Spain’s interior ministry says 35,935 migrants reached Spain until December 15 this year, a 40-percent decrease from the same period last year.
Nearly half of them came through the Atlantic migration route from the coast of West Africa to the Canary Islands.
