Diamond polishers at work in Surat.
Collapsed building in Surat attracts people hunting for diamonds
A large number of onlookers reportedly scrambled to the site of the collapsed four-storey Devkrupa Chambers in the cutting and polishing centre of Surat in India on Tuesday afternoon hoping to find diamonds.
December 14, 2011
A large number of onlookers reportedly scrambled to the site of the collapsed four-storey Devkrupa Chambers in the cutting and polishing centre of Surat in India on Tuesday afternoon hoping to find diamonds.
Five diamond-polishing units had premises in the building and people were hopeful of finding diamonds in the rubble, according to The Times of India.
In addition to diamonds, people also tried to extract other valuables, such as machines and other equipment.
Kanaiya Mavani, who had a unit on the second floor of the building, said, "I had left diamonds in the locker of my office. Besides diamonds, there were costly imported machines and equipment."
Police and firefighters struggled to control the crowd that grew larger as the news of the collapse spread, but eventually managed to clear them away to a safe distance so that the debris could be cleared.
"We had to struggle a lot to keep people away from the debris as a large number of them were trying to search for precious things beneath the debris," said Ishwar Patel, fire officer of Mahidharpura fire station. There were no casualties in the incident.
