Five killed in India building collapse, say police

Indian rescue workers remove bodies from the rubble at the site of the City Light Hotel building collapse in Secunderabad, the twin city of Hyderabad on July 8, 2013. - AFP

SECUNDERABAD (India): A two-storey hotel collapsed in the southern Indian city of Secunderabad on Monday, killing five restaurant workers and injuring 15 others, a local police official told AFP. 

"Five people have died and 15 more have been injured when the City Light Hotel collapsed early this morning," local police official B. Surender said. 

Nearly 25 people were working at the hotel on a busy road in Secunderabad in Andhra Pradesh state when one of the kitchen walls gave way, burying staff under the debris, Surender said. 

"Five of the workers have been admitted to hospital with serious injuries. We are still working to clear the rubble and find the remaining people," he said. It was unclear how many people were still trapped. 

"The building was very old and the walls showed cracks, according to people working nearby," he added.

Several buildings have collapsed in India in recent months, many of them apartment blocks in the financial capital Mumbai, including one in April that killed 74 people. 

The collapses have highlighted pervasive poor construction standards in the country, where massive demand for housing and endemic corruption often result in illegal buildings and a lack of safety inspections.