Nine persons, including four children and three women, were killed and 22 were injured when a residential building collapsed in Bhiwandi on Sunday morning. The two-storey structure was 35 years old and had been declared as ‘dangerous’ by civic authorities.
The building, owned by one Meharunnisa Kadir Hasan at Gaibi Nagar under Shanti Nagar police station, crashed at around 9.30 a.m., Bhiwandi Tehsildar Vaishali Lambate said.
A team of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) joined the rescue and relief operation, which was hampered by incessant rains throughout the day.
State PWD Minister Eknath Shinde, who visited the site, said nine persons were killed in the collapse. Thane Resident Deputy Collector Vandana Suryavanshi said 22 people were injured in the incident.
Initially, five persons had been reported dead, but the toll rose as the rescue operations progressed and more bodies were pulled out from the debris of the ill-fated structure.
Eight of the deceased were identified as Aayesha Mobin Ansari, 38, Suphiya Shahnavaz Shah, 19, Yehem Ejaz Shah, 10, Shahjahan Khurshid Aalam Ansari, 42, and her four sons Muddashir Khurshid Aalam Ansari, 20, Saif Khurshid Aalam Ansari, 17, Khalid Khurshid Aalam Ansari, 15, and Shakib Khurshid Aalam Ansari, 11. One of the deceased is yet to be identified.
The building, which had been declared as ‘dangerous’, was home to 22 families. It had been served a notice by the Bhiwandi Nizampur Municipal Corporation (BNMC), following which 12 families vacated while the others decided to stay put, an official release said. Mr. Shinde, who is the District Guardian Minister for Thane, said the notice was served twice but since there was a dispute between the owner and the tenants, some of them did not vacate.
The injured have been admitted to several hospitals in the district. Among the survivors was a seven-month-old child, who was pulled out alive from the debris, officials said.
An emergency meeting was convened by Mr. Shinde at the BNMC office, which was attended by District Collector Mahendra Kalyankar and Municipal Commissioner E. Ravindran.
—With PTI inputs
