Seven persons were killed and 27 injured when an under-construction building came crashing down in the posh Civil Lines locality in Allahabad early on Wednesday morning.

Labourers were sleeping inside the building when the structure collapsed around 0630 hours, Inspector General of Police (Allahabad Zone) Amar Dutt Misra told PTI.

He said seven labourers were buried alive while 27 others were injured, some of them seriously. The injured were admitted to SRN Hospital in Allahabad.

Army personnel and district adminstration officials were engaged in clearing the debris.

Misra said criminal proceedings would be initiated against the contractor of the building.

He said police, for the time being, has no plans for initiating any proceedings against the owner of the building Jamil Khan, a city based businessman, as "prima facie there was no case against him."