7 children among 11 killed in Bhiwandi building collapse in Maharashtra; 13 rescued

Thane, September 21

Seven children and four others were killed and 13, including a four-year-old boy, rescued after a three-storied building collapsed in Maharashtra’s Bhiwandi town on Monday, police said.

The 43-year-old Jhilani building caved in at 3.40 am, police said, adding the dead children include a two-year-old.

Personnel of the Thane Disaster Response Force (TDRF) were seen pulling out the boy, Ubed Quraishi, from the debris and feeding him water.

Bhiwandi is a powerloom town around 10 km from Thane.

The building had 40 flats and around 150 persons lived in it, an official said.

A civic official told PTI that the building, located at Narpoli’s Patel Compound near Dhamankar Naka, collapsed while the residents were asleep.

Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are at the spot. NDRF DG S N Pradhan said they were using a canine squad to search persons trapped in the debris.

A portion of the building collapsed and many occupants were trapped in the debris, a Thane Municipal Corporation official said.

The building was not in the list of dilapidated structures of the Bhiwandi-Nizampur Municipal Corporation, he said.

An eyewitness said local residents rushed to the spot immediately after the collapse and helped pull out some persons from the debris.

The power supply to the locality was snapped as a precautionary measure, the official said, adding the injured have been admitted to local hospitals.

Bhiwandi DCP Rajkumar Shinde said offences under sections 337,338,304 (2) of the IPC were being registered against the owner of building Sayyed Ahmed Jilani following a complaint by the civic officials after the collapse.

Thane guardian minister Eknath Shinde said the collapse would be probed. He visited the site and announced a compensation of Rs five lakh to the kin of each victim.

He said 102 “dangerous buildings” in the powerloom town have already been evacuated.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed anguish at the loss of lives in the building collapse.

“Saddened by the building collapse in Bhiwandi, Maharashtra. Condolences to the bereaved families. Praying for a quick recovery of those injured. Rescue operations are underway and all possible assistance is being provided to the affected,” Modi tweeted.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray expressed pain over the collapse and instructed the administration to ensure proper rescue operation and treatment to the injured, his office said. PTI