Eleven labourers were killed when the roof of a cold storage collapsed at Chandausi in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal district on Thursday.

Three of the eight labourers who were rescued alive by the National Disaster Response Force on Thursday night died during treatment.

Eight more labourers who were brought out on Friday were already dead. Shalabh Mathur, deputy inspector-general of Sambhal, said: “A portion of AR Cold Store had collapsed under the weight of the potatoes. There were more than 20 labourers working inside the building at that time. There may be more labourers trapped in the debris. The NDRF and the SDRF are still at work and trying to remove the rubble.”

Locals said there were 30 labourers inside the building and 19, including eight alive, had been brought out till Friday evening.

“A large number of trucks full of potatoes had arrived here on Wednesday night. The production of potatoes this year was more than many years of the past and the owners of the cold storage wanted to keep more than their capacity,” Maheshwar Kumar, a local resident told reporters.