The toll in the collapse of a five-storey building at Mahim in south-central Mumbai mounted to 10 on Tuesday, as the fire brigade personnel recovered nine more bodies from under the debris.
A portion of the ‘Altaf’ building located near the Mahim dargah had collapsed on Monday night. The 40-year-0ld building, which caved in, housed a Maruti Suzuki showroom on its ground floor.
Till late on Monday night, one body had been recovered. Six persons were persons were injured, while several others were feared trapped. Among those feared trapped were family members of criminal lawyer Rizwan Merchant.
During their debris clearance operation on Tuesday, the fire brigade personnel recovered the bodies of nine more persons trapped under the collapsed structure.
The injured were rushed to Bhabha Hospital at suburban Bandra, KEM and Sion Hospital.The persons killed in the mishap have been identified as: Zaibunissa Abdul Sattar laakha (76), Mhaisani Baatliwala (75), Halima Sheikh (50), Mobin lakha (18), Faraz Rizwan Merchant (13), Asifa Rizwan Merchant (50) and Sahira Ghulam Merchant (78).
On their part, locals have attributed the collapse to several structural changes carried out by the management of a car show room located on the ground floor of the affected building.
Meanwhile, the civic administration and local police are trying to establish as to what exactly led to the collapse of "Altaf" building, which incidentally was the first structure to have caved in after the advent of monsoon season -- during which building collapses are a common feature in Mumbai.