Eight people, including a three-month-old female child, were killed and seven others feared trapped under the debris, after a four-storey dilapidated building collapsed at Ghatkopar’s Damodar Park locality in north-east Mumbai on Tuesday morning.
In all, 16 residents were rescued from under the fire brigade and NDRF personnel all through the day. “We apprehend that at least seven more persons are feared trapped under the debris,” a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) spokesperson said late in the evening. Four people were injured in the mishap are undergoing treatment at the nearly Rajawadi Hospital.
The “Sai Darshan”, a ground plus four storey building located near Shreyas Cinema in Damodar Park locality of Ghatkopar, collapsed at 10.54 am. In all, 12 families were living in this dilapidated building.
Informed official sources said that the BMC had served a notice to the residents of “Sai Darshan” declaring their building as “dangerous” and advised the residents to vacate the place.
Immediately after the collapse, the rescue and search operations began with the city fire brigade deploying 14 engines, two rescue vans ad eight ambulences and its 300-odd personnel men to the mishap site and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) rushing one of its battalions to the scene.
The rescuers, equipped with four JCB machines and six dumpers, were continuing the debris clearance and search operations till late in the night. “A 14-year-0ld boy was rescued alive from under the debris at around 7.30 pm. The search operations are continuing,” the BMC spokesperson said.
Of the killed in the mishap were a three-month-old female child and four women. The deceased were identified as V Renuka lalitha Tak (3 months), Rajnaben Shah (62), Sulkshana Khanchandini ( 70), Mansukhbhai Gajjar (75), Amruta Tak (39)Pandrinath Dongre ( 75) Divya Paras Ajmera (48 years and Milkulkhan Chandini ( 30). Meanwhile, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis ordered an inquiry into the circumstances leading to the collapse of “Sai Darshan” building.
State Housing Minister Prakash Mehta, who visited the mishap site, said: “The building that collapsed was not unauthorised. All the same an inquiry will be conducted to ascertain if the residents had carried out structural changes in the structure without obtaining prior permission from the BMC”.
Eyewitnesses said that “Sai Darshan” had weakened over the years since the residents had carried out several structural changes inside the 40-year-old building.