At least six persons were killed and 10 others were injured, while 16 persons were rescued from under the rubble after a three-storey building at Walpada locality of the powerloom town of Bhiwandi in neighbouring Thane district collapsed.
The building located at Vardhman compound at Kailashnagar collapsed all of a sudden late on Saturday afternoon, while the relief and rescue operation continued till Sunday afternoon — for nearly 24 hours — as nearly 30 persons were feared to be trapped under the rubble.
A two-and-half-year-old male child and a 30-year-old man were among the 16 persons rescued from under the rubble during the relief and rescue operation undertaken jointly by teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the local disaster response team that continued till Sunday. The two rescued persons were identified as Shivkumar (child) and Balu Pisal (30).
The preliminary investigations have revealed that the structure may have collapsed due to the weight of a huge mobile tower set up on the terrace of the building and also unauthorised extended constructions undertaken by the owner of the building.
The Bhiwandi police have arrested the owner of the building, Indrapal Patil, and are looking for the civil contractor who had carried out the construction work in the building.
While there was a godown and office of a food product company on the ground and first floors of the building, the flats on the second and third floors of the structure were occupied by people.
Of the six persons killed in the mishap, three deceased were identified as Navnath Sawant (35), Lalita Ravi Mehta (29) and Mukesh Kori (5). The details of the three other persons killed in the mishap were not immediately known.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde met the injured persons at a Bhiwandi Hospital. He announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the families of each of those killed in the mishap. He said that the state government would bear the cost of medical treatment of the injured.