Indian rescuers are racing to try to save up to 20 people still feared trapped in the ruins of a partially constructed building that collapsed "like a pack of cards".
Emergency workers have pulled 13 bodies from the residential building that crumbled mid-afternoon on Saturday while poorly paid labourers were working on the site in a coastal village in the tourist state of Goa.
A senior officer overseeing the rescue told AFP 15 to 20 people were feared still buried but the chances of finding anyone alive were "getting bleak" as time passed.
"There were some 40 people working when the building collapsed," said the officer, who did not give his name as he is not authorised to speak to media.
"We have pulled out 25 dead or alive, so we believe (up to) 20 to be still inside."
The accident is the latest in a string of deadly collapses in India that have highlighted shoddy construction standards.
Huge demand for housing and pervasive corruption often result in cost-cutting and a lack of safety inspections.
In September a run-down residential block in Mumbai collapsed, killing 60 people.
The officer said the death toll for the latest collapse remained at 13 but was expected to rise.
Rescue workers using cranes, bulldozers, shovels and bare hands struggled to shift concrete slabs and other debris to try to free the labourers trapped under the building in the seaside village of Canacona, south of the state capital Panaji.
Photos showed workers tunnelling under pancaked floors of smashed bricks, rocks and dirt to reach those trapped, after one witness told AFP the building collapsed "like a pack of cards".
The army joined fire and emergency workers to dig through the rubble and cut through iron rods immediately after the collapse, efforts that continued through Saturday night.
Goa police are searching for the builder and the contractor who have gone missing since the tragedy.
Officers have registered cases of endangering human life, causing death and negligence against them and others involved in the building's construction.
Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Saturday pledged to "immediately arrest" those found responsible for the collapse of the building, which reports said was five storeys high.
In June, 10 people were killed when an apartment block collapsed in Mumbai, while in April 74 people died after a seven-storey building collapsed during construction on the city's outskirts.
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