Police in India said at least 12 people were killed when an 80-year-old hotel building collapsed Monday in the southern city of Secunderabad in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
As many as 50 people were trapped under debris from the Iranian City Light Hotel early Monday, according to the Wall Street Journal.
NDTV reported that the son of the building's owner was among them.
About 25 people were working at the hotel, located on a busy road in Secunderabad, when one of its kitchen walls collapsed and buried some of the employees, senior police official B Surender said. He added:
"The building was very old and the walls showed cracks, according to people working nearby."
Local authorities said the owner was responsible, as the building may have collapsed under the weight of bricks being transported to the first floor for installing ovens.
Nor were there any concrete pillars to support the hotel.
Secunderabad lies next to Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh state.
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