New Delhi, Mar 29: At least seven people, including two children, were killed and several others injured when a four-storey under-construction building collapsed in north east Delhi in the wee hours on Saturday.

Twenty-three persons were taken out of the debris of the building in New Usmanpur locality in Seelampur, which collapsed around 7:30 am, police said, adding five were declared brought dead at the hospital while two others later succumbed to their injuries.

The injured are admitted at GTB Hospital, Additional DCP (Northeast) Rajeev Ranjan said and added that rescue operations were still on and it is feared that around eight to ten people could still be trapped in the rubbles.

Deepak Garg, owner of the building, was absconding, police said.

Most of the casualties comprise labourers who were engaged in constructing the building and their family members, police said.

Ranjan said the building, being built for residential purposes, was being illegally constructed and did not have the necessary permit from the authorities.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has instituted a vigilance inquiry into the incident to be headed by the Chief Vigilance Officer and has suspended an Assistant Engineer and a Joint Engineer for alleged dereliction of duty, spokesman for the civic body Deep Mathur said.