Noida: A wall, possibly weakened at the base by recent rain, collapsed at an adjacent construction site in Greater Noida's Ecotech 1 on Thursday evening, leaving three workers dead and two grievously injured.Anita (32), Malti (34), and Pushpendra (40) — all from UP's Mahoba district — were working at the basement of Aasra Private Limited's office when the adjacent building's wall gave way.Sudhir Kumar, additional deputy commissioner of police, said though an official complaint was yet to be registered, the collapse had triggered questions about safety protocols at the construction site. The contractor, who had hired the workers, has been taken into custody, but the cops are awaiting a complaint from the victims' families to proceed with further action."No sooner did we receive information about the collapse, we sent a team of cops to the construction site. Our team acted swiftly and managed to rescue the people from under the debris and rush them to a nearby hospital," he added.Kumar said the police would also probe claims that the base of the wall had weakened following a few days of rain and thunderstorm.While the three workers were declared dead on arrival at a nearby hospital, the two others — Dhirendra Kumar (32) from Mahoba and Umesh from Bulandshahr — were admitted for treatment.

Concerns, however, have emerged about the delayed reporting of the incident to authorities.A senior police officer said while the collapse occurred around 4pm, ambulance services and the cops were not notified till 5.30pm. "Around 7-8 workers were present at the site at the time. Five got trapped under the debris, while others attempted rescue operations instead of alerting authorities immediately," he added.The workers, according to police, had been employed at the site for 4-5 months. Some family members were present there when the tragedy unfolded, adding to the chaos and disrupting rescue efforts."The incident has highlighted the critical need for stricter safety measures at construction sites, particularly during adverse weather conditions. It has also shown the importance of immediate emergency response," an officer said.