India: 13 members of same family buried alive in building collapse

13 members of the same family have died after being buried alive when a three-storey housing block collapsed in India.

Twelve people who were sleeping on the ground floor, died at the scene in Mughalsarai, a town in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Two seriously injured children were rescued from the rubble and taken to a nearby hospital, but one of them died shortly afterwards.

Confirming the fatalities Superintendent Chandauli Muniraj said: "People were buried alive."

It has been revealed that two floors of the three-storey housing block were constructed in just 30 days, prompting investigators to suggest that the construction was hurried and the structure was unsafe.

Mohammad Kamarrudin, the owner of the building, was among those killed under the rubble along with two children under eight years old. Three people escaped unhurt.

In July 2014, dozens of people were killed when a partially-built apartment block collapsed in Chennai. Hours earlier a similar building crumbled in New Delhi.

Due to the high demand for housing and poor regulations, construction companies in India have been know to use cheap materials resulting in frequent building collapses.