On the gloomy afternoon of September 6, Amit Choudhary, 20, stood waiting for a friend at the Nigori tea stall in Satya Niketan. A major student hub in south Delhi, Satya Niketan is located about 2 kilometres from Delhi University (DU)’s South Campus. The two of them had planned to drive to the university’s North Campus, about 20 km away.Suddenly, the ground beneath him shook. He heard a deafening sound and saw a huge cloud of dust. “I was blinded for 2-3 minutes,” he recalls.When the dust began to settle, Choudhary was shocked by what he saw. The five-storey building a few steps away, named Hostel Daze, had vanished. In its place was a heap of concrete slabs, bricks, and twisted metal. He could hear cries for help from beneath the rubble.For the first few minutes, nobody went near the site, says Choudhary. Live electricity wires had fallen, and the neighbouring building, packed with female students, was shaking. People stood panic-stricken at windows and on staircases, afraid that building might also come down. They watched, frozen, as screams continued to rise from beneath the debris next door.Seven people, including a labourer, died. Twelve people were rescued, while five others are battling for their lives in hospital.In Satya Niketan, many students stay in buildings that have been altered and expanded over the years to accommodate more tenants. As per the police investigation, Hostel Daze had been extended from its original structure, with changes made to the basement and ground floor. Locals and students say 35-40 students stayed there as paying guests (PG). Since September 6 was the Sunday of a long weekend, there were fewer students in the building at the time of the tragedy.The incident has raised questions about the safety of buildings across the neighbourhood: in 2022, a three-storey building in Satya Niketan collapsed during renovation work to convert it into a PG accommodation, killing two labourers and injuring four others.It has also exposed failures by both the building owner and the authorities responsible for enforcing construction and safety regulations. Officials from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) say the building had no sanctioned plan and that the owner had not obtained the required fire no-objection certificate or occupancy certificate. The civic body, meanwhile, has no record of inspections or enforcement action against the unauthorised construction.