M A I N   N E W S

10 die in Mumbai building collapse
Shiv Kumar/TNS

Rescue work in progress after a three-storey building collapsed at Mumbra in Mumbai on Friday; (and below) a rescue worker searches for people stuck in the debris of the collapsed building. — PTI

Mumbai, June 21
In yet another case of house collapse in the suburb of Mumbra outside Mumbai, 10 persons died and at least 14 others were seriously injured when a 35-year old building came crashing down on the wee hours of today.

Police said the three-storeyed Shakuntala building located outside the Mumbra railway station came down at around 2 am. “Since it was early in the morning all the victims were fast asleep in their homes when the building crashed,” Thane Police Commissioner K P Raghuvanshi told reporters.

Among those killed were a two-month old girl, Mahek Muddasar Punjabi. Five other victims have been identified so far, according to police. Their names have been given as: Mohamad Rehan Jilani Faruki (25), Usna (4), Abdul Karim Shaikh (30), Tasmiya Makdum Shaikh (3) and Shakir Abdul Karim Shaikh (6).

Local residents, who rushed to help out the victims, pulled out 22 people from the debris of the building. “Our first priority is to rescue the victims. We will begin investigations soon,” Raghuvanshi said.

As part of the rescue drill put in place by the state government 120 personnel from the National Disaster Response Force in Mumbai and Pune were in place within three hours with thermal cameras to locate victims and airbags to rescue people from the debris.

Survivors told reporters that the building began to shake a few minutes before it collapsed. “All of us ran out when the building began to shake,” Zakia Shaikh, a resident told reporters at the site of the crash. According to her nine families lived in the building.

Shortly after the crash, the Thane civic officials said the collapsed building was on the list of dangerous structures and the residents had been asked to vacate. However, survivors of the crash said they did not receive any intimation from the Thane municipality.

According to civic officials, the building, which collapsed today, was one of the few buildings that were not illegal. Thane Municipal Commissioner R A Rajeev had said earlier this year that 90 per cent of the buildings in Mumbra were illegal. His comments came after a hastily constructed building in the same suburb collapsed in April this year killing 74 people.

Officials say as many as 1097 buildings in this suburb are illegal of which 97 are in danger of imminent collapse.