Mumbai: Three people were killed and 13 others injured after a four-storey residential building collapsed in Mumbai, officials said Tuesday.
A wing of the building, located in Kurla’s Naik Nagar Society, collapsed around midnight, they said, adding that its another wing was also likely to crash and was vacated.
The injured people were shifted to civic hospitals in Ghatkopar and Sion.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner, Iqbal Singh Chahal, said three people died and four were admitted to the hospital, while nine people were discharged after primary treatment.
Chahal said as per the fire bridge, seven-eight people were trapped in the building debris, while police suspect there could be more people under the rubble.
“I have requested the fire bridge and the NDRF to carry out the operation (search and rescue operation) carefully as there could be some people alive inside,” Chahal said.
A woman, who was trapped under the debris, was rescued by a team of the NDRF. Rescuers cheered when the woman was brought out alive from the rubble.
Fire brigade personnel were searching for more survivors, an official said.
Earlier, locals informed the fire brigade personnel that around 20-22 people were trapped under the debris, when they reached the spot after receiving a call about the incident, the official said, adding that the numbers may vary.
Around a dozen fire engines were deployed at the spot, besides two rescue vans and other fire brigade equipment, the official said.
Teams of the fire brigade and the NDRF were engaged in the search and rescue operations at the site along with civic staff and police.
NDRF commandant Anupam Srivastava said two of their teams were involved in the search and rescue work at the building.
A connected wing of building was also in a dilapidated condition and likely to collapse, and its residents were shifted out, a civic official said.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had been issuing notices to the collapsed building repeatedly since 2013, under provisions of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, initially for repairs and then for vacating it and demolition, Additional Municipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide told PTI.
“Even prosecution for-non compliance was initiated. Later, the residents got the structural audit redone and got the building categorised as repairable, but didn’t carry out the repairs,” said the official, who visited the spot on Tuesday and reviewed the search and rescue operation.
Bhide said despite the BMC’s continuous efforts to vacate the building, people had continued to stay there.
The building residents had even given an undertaking that they would stay there at their risk and cost, she said.
Maharashtra Environment and Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray also visited the site and reviewed the search and rescue operation.
This is the third major building collapse incident in the metropolis this month.
On June 23, the slab of a two-storey industrial structure collapsed in Chembur area, killing a 22-year-old person and injuring 10 others.
On June 9, a three-storey residential building collapsed in suburban Bandra, where a 55-year-old man was killed and 18 others suffered injuries.
