Toll in Mumbai building collapse climbs to 34
MUMBAI: Police said that 34 people died of the 46 who have been rescued in the Bhendi Bazaar collapse in Mumbai as rescue operations continued overnight.
The 117-year-old Hussaini building collapsed on Thursday morning at the congested locality, and rescue operations were still on at the site on Friday, more than 24 hours after the collapse. Fire brigade officials said that a few more people are likely to be stuck under the debris.
Thursday’s incident also saw six firemen and one NDRF person sustaining injuries.
PS Rahangdale, chief fire officer of the Mumbai fire brigade said two of them have been admitted to the JJ Hospital, and others have been discharged. Though the cause of the collapse was yet to be confirmed, officials believe torrential rain in Mumbai could have weakened the foundations of the building where fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim once lived.
Thirteen tenants, including 12 families, were living in the building at Pakmodia Street. Reports said it also housed a play school but the children had not arrived when the building collapsed.
Three adjoining buildings were also being evacuated to ensure safety, said BMC officials.
Rescue workers clambered up the large mound of concrete rubble and steel rods and hammered at concrete slabs to reach below the debris. Cranes and bulldozers were also deployed. The collapse is the third in Mumbai in over the last two months.
The building came under the ambitious Bhendi Bazaar redevelopment project that envisages cluster redevelopment of the entire densely populated locality crammed with shops, narrow alleys, and old buildings, spread across 16.5 acres. “The trust had already shifted seven families in 2013-14. Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority had issued notices declaring the building to be dilapidated along with an offer of transit accommodation to the remaining tenants,” Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust, which has undertaken the redevelopment project, said in a statement.
Local corporator Rais Shaikh held the development authority responsible for the collapse. “The authorities should have evacuated the tenants a long time back as the building is unsafe. An inquiry should be instituted,” Shaikh told HT.