At least 11 people, including five women, were killed when a four-storeyed dilapidated residential building crashed in Ghatkopar suburb here yesterday morning, officials said.
Another 17 persons were rescued from the debris of the crashed Sai Darshan building in Damodar Park. Rescue work was underway late yesterday evening to extricate around eight persons feared trapped under the rubble.
Around 12 families were believed to be living in the ill-fated structure which also housed a private nursing home on the ground floor. According to eyewitnesses, around 10.43am, the building suddenly collapsed amidst a thick cloud of dust and they heard screams and cries of help from the residents.
The Mumbai Fire Brigade, BMC rescue teams, National Disaster Response Force and State Disaster Response Fund teams and others rushed to spot with 14 fire engines, rescue vans, ambulances, JCBs and metal cutters.
According to officials, the building figured on the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation’s list of dangerous buildings and had been served an evacuation notice six months ago.
According to the BMC Disaster Control, of those rescued, 11 have been admitted to various hospitals for treatment. Two of the injured are firemen. The rest were discharged after treatment.
Taking a grim view of what is this monsoon’s first major building crash, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is in New Delhi, ordered an enquiry and asked municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta to submit a report within 15 days. State Housing Minister Prakash Mehta, municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta, mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar, senior Congress leader and ex-minister M Naseem Khan, Nationalist Congress Party city president Sachin Aher, local legislators and municipal corporators and officials, rushed to the site to supervise rescue and relief operations.
Replying to a question on whether the nursing home was owned by a local Shiv Sena leader and illegal repairs were being carried out, Minister Mehta assured strict action against whoever was responsible for the crash.
Two dead as house collapses in Kolkata
Two people were killed when an old two-storeyed building partially collapsed in Kolkata yesterday, police said. “Himardi Pahari, 38, a local and Hansa Sahu, 18, a resident of the building in Taltala (in central Kolkata), came under the debris. Both of them were taken to the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital after being extricated but declared dead by doctors,” police said. A part of the first floor and the balcony of the building at 10-B Indian Mirror Street collapsed, and Fire Brigade, Disaster Management and police personnel were rushed to the spot to initiate the rescue operation. City mayor and state Fire Minister Sovan Chatterjee, who also visited the spot after the incident, said at least two people were trapped under the wreckage. According to a local report, two people including a teenage girl are feared trapped under the collapsed building. Our personnel are conducting the rescue operation taking a lot of life risk as the remaining part of the building may also collapse anytime,” he said.
Rescue workers search for survivors among the debris at the site of the building collapse in Ghatkopar, Mumbai, yesterday.
