Ahmedabad, Feb 3: Five persons were killed when a hotel building collaped in Kalupur area of the city on Sunday. Out of the 30 rescued from the debris of the three-storeyed hotel building, five have died. Many of the injured are in a critical condition, fire brigade officials said. "More people are still feared trapped under the debris," officials said. Massive rescue operations are on at the site with fire brigade using cranes and other heavy machines to rescue those trapped inside the debris. "We have put all our force in the rescue work and we will rescue all those trapped in about one or two hours," Ahmedabad Municipal Commissioner IP Gautam said.

Fire brigade sources said that the 25-year-old hotel structure was weak and the owners had started work to repair it. "The probable reason of the collapse was the work going inside the hotel," fire brigade officials said. Construction work was going on in the adjacent building of the hotel and that might have also affected the building structure, officials said. They added that the hotel should not have rented rooms when they were working on "strengthening the structure" of the hotel. The hotel was built in 1985. The state government has announced compensation of Rs one lakh to the kin of those who have died in the incident.

The AMC filed a police complaint against the owner of the hotel here which collapsed today claiming five lives. The builder of an adjacent building has also been booked in the same incident, police said. "The structure of the four-storeyed hotel building was damaged due to the excessive digging carried out by the builder in the adjacent building," Municipal commissioner IP Gautam said.

"A bank located on the ground floor of the building had vacated the premises two days back due to the damage in the building," Gautam added. "The hotel owner had started the work of strengthening of the building but at the same time rented rooms to people. He should not have done that knowing that the building's structure has been affected due to excessive digging in the adjacent plot," the Commissioner added. Gautam said that the AMC had earlier warned the hotel not to take occupants. "So, we think that both the owner of the hotel and the builder of the adjacent plot were responsible for the incident We have registred FIR against both of them," he added. Five people were killed as a hotel building in Kalupur area collpased here. Many more are feared trapped inside the debris. The rescue work is going on in the full swing at the site.