Rescuers remove debris from the market. Picture by Pabitra Das

Calcutta, Jan. 13: A seven-year-old girl was killed when a 300-sq-ft chunk of the roof of Anath Babu Bazaar, popularly known as Chhatubabur Bazaar, on Beadon Street collapsed this afternoon.

Twenty-five people were injured, of whom three are battling for life at R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital.

The dead girl was identified as Shibani Sau, a resident of Jagabandhu Modak Lane near Girish Park. She was shopping with mother Sarita and brothers Nirupam and Vicky on the eve of Makar Sankranti.

Around 5.20 pm, when the market was teeming with festival shoppers, the roof gave way.

“Hearing the thud, we went to the spot and started rescuing people with the help of fire brigade personnel,” said Dipak Dutta, the officer-in-charge of Burotolla police station.

But local residents had already got to work before the police arrived.

“Drawn by cries from those trapped under the debris, I rushed there. Initially, we found it difficult to pull out the injured,” said an elderly Pankaj Ghosh. “Before informing the fire station at Mohammad Ali Park, we got hold of iron rods and other gadgets and started dragging the people out.”

Sixteen people had been rescued before police and fire brigade officials reached the spot with three engines. “But the little girl could not be rescued. When we spotted her, she was unconscious with severe head injuries,” said a fire brigade official.

Shibani’s mother and brothers were among the injured, police said.

People are still feared trapped under the debris.

A doctor at R.G. Kar said the three seriously injured “have been kept under observation. Nothing can be said before 48 hours”.

As news of the mishap spread, traders piled blame on the trustee board of the market.

“Although they are supposed to look after the maintenance of the one-storey building, no repairs have been carried out in the recent past. Chunks of concrete had fallen on customers several times earlier,” complained Aurobindo Ghosh, the secretary of the market’s traders’ association.

He said a meeting was held in December when the traders told the authorities that some of the beams had to be changed soon. “But they did not pay any heed to our request. They are only interested in collecting money from us,” Ghosh added.

No one from the trustee board was available for comment.