Bandra house collapse: Man succumbs to injuries

One of the two persons rescued from the debris of the Bandra house which collapsed on Monday night has succumbed to the injuries on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday. On Monday night around 8.30 pm, a portion of a vacant threestoreyed vacant building, Kalpana Building, collapsed on its adjoining four-storeyed Hardik Villa building at Shirley Road, near Rizvi Architecture college, Bandra (West). Total seven persons were rescued from the site underneath and two persons were trapped under the debris and were later rescued by Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB). The MFB had declared it as a level 3 house collapse disaster. The MFB had deployed eight fire engines and one rescue van on the spot and rescue operation went on for more than two hours. The two trapped victims rescued underneath the debris were identified as Michael Defna (41) and Ramsagar Pandit (25). The victims were rushed to Lilavati and Bhabha hospitals.

Later, Defna was declared dead by doctors upon arrival at the Lilavati Hospital.

"The deceased was brought dead to the hospital. Doctors were unable to read his pulse and blood pressure. We tried to revive him by giving cardiopulmonary resuscitation for almost 45 minutes but all went in vain as the patient succumbed," Dr V Ravishankar, CEO, Lilavati Hospital told FPJ. Meanwhile, the other injured, Pandit had fractured his legs and was discharged from the hospital later on Tuesday.

The incident had damaged the compound wall and ground floor of Hardik Villa and a number of cars parked at the adjacent road also got crumbled under the debris. The Hardik Villa has been vacated by civic officials and localites stated the Kalpana building was empty for more than two decades.