Stunning footage of foundation failure that causes 3-story building to collapse in India

A 3-story building suddenly collapsed into a canal in West Bengal, a state of India.

The structure was located at a village about 120 kilometers away from Kolkata, the capital city of West Bengal state. The foundation of the building failed, sending the structure into a canal on Saturday, June 13, 2020. 

The incident was preceded by heavy rainfalls that struck the region the day before. The building seemed to be under construction. Fortunately, no one was inside the building at the time of the failure and therefore, there were no victims.

According to locals, the house was built very close to the canal, a fact that violated the state's building regulations.

The failure was associated with excavation works that were conducted in the nearby canal during the past weeks. The ground material that was removed, reduced the integrity of the building's foundation which was exposed prior to the failure. Moreover, some cracks were developed in the foundation about 2 days before the incident proving that the stability of the structure had already been deteriorated before the rainfalls.

The moment of collapse was captured on camera and the footage is stunning (Click the video below to watch). Bangshi Khara, a local who lives nearby describes the incident: "The sight of the building collapse is terrifying. We will remember it for a long time. Nemai Samanta (a local businessman and the owner of the structure) was making this building for business purposes. We haven't seen him in the area for two days."