UPDATE: India hospital collapses, at least 15 feared trapped, 4 seriously injured
Onlookers and rescue personnel are pictured at the scene of a hospital collapse in Bhopal on April 26, 2013. Up to 15 people, mostly patients, were feared trapped after part of a hospital roof caved in on Friday in the central Indian city of Bhopal, officials and eyewitnesses said.
At least 15 are feared trapped after India's Kasturba Gandhi Hospital in Bhopal partially collapsed.
Mayor Krishna Gaur said a rescue operation has been launched and police officer Upendra Jain was quoted as saying four people have been rescued from the rubble.
"Five people were trapped initially. Four people have already been rescued. One child is feared trapped. There has been no casualty so far. The rescue operation is on," Jain said.
According to the Times of India, 12 people had been pulled from the debris alive early in the rescue efforts.
Reports are now saying that there were 20-25 people inside the hospital ward when the roof collapsed and that 15-16 have already been rescued.
Four of those rescued are said to be seriously injured.
The cause of the collapse was not immediately known.
"The building is a old one and that might be the cause of collapse," said Jain. "A clear picture will emerge after the rescue operations are over."
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Hospital clerk Vijay Kumar said in a telephone interview with The New York Times that construction crews had been making repairs to the hospital for a month, but that they were not working on Friday.
Rescue teams were using heavy machinery like cranes and excavators to aid in their efforts to find more people trapped in the debris.
No casualties have been found as of yet, but rescuers have not ruled out that possibility.
Some patients at the 350-bed hospital have been moved to other medical facilities in the city.