On Thursday, a 117 year old residential building in Bhendi Bazaar in South Mumbai collapsed leading to the death of 12 people and 30 people still trapped under the rubble.
A total of 13 tenants including 12 families were residing in the apartment at Pakmodia street. The building also has a play school but fortunately, the children had not arrived at the building before it collapsed.
Mumbai Fire Brigade official reported, “So far, 21 people have been rescued, including 15 men and two women, from under the debris along with four fire brigade officials. Several are still feared trapped.”
The injured were quickly rushed to JJ Hospital where Dr. T.P. Lahane said, “Five patients are in critical condition and have been kept under observation in the Intensive Care Unit. They have suffered multiple injuries and fractures. (The) Rest are currently stable.”
As soon as the news about the collapse surfaced the government rushed 125 fire brigade officials and 90 members of the National Disaster Relief Fund.
The three adjoining buildings to the collapsed one are being evacuated for safety purposes.
Maharashtra industries minister Subhash Desai said, “Our priority is to pull out at the earliest those trapped under the rubble of the dilapidated building.”
He further added, “Once the rescue work gets over, the government will conduct a probe to ascertain the factors behind the building collapse. Strict action will be taken against those found guilty.”
This is the third such collapse in the city of Mumbai in the past two months.
