New Delhi, June 10, (dpa/GNA) – Eleven people died when a building collapsed after heavy rains in India’s financial hub Mumbai, officials said on Thursday.
The three-storey building in the Malad West area collapsed on Wednesday night, additional police commissioner Dilip Sawant said. An adjacent one-storey hut was crushed by the debris.
Eighteen people were pulled out of the rubble and 11 died, a Mumbai municipal corporation spokesman said.
Television visuals showed cranes working in the narrow congested lane, trying to clear the debris as rain continued to fall.
Firemen, who are first responders for accidents in India, were seen searching for survivors, assisted by local residents and police.
Residents of three nearby structures which were also in a dilapidated condition had been evacuated, the Mumbai municipal corporation spokesman said.
“An investigation has been ordered and a case will be registered against the owner of the structure,” Sawant said.
Building collapses are common in India, usually due to shoddy construction, substandard materials and disregard for regulations. Many of these accidents occur during the monsoon season.
Mumbai, which has critical housing shortage, has many old buildings which are unsafe. The building which collapsed had been identified as one of them, but the residents refused to leave, NDTV news channel reported.
“Monsoon in the ‘Maximum City’ is also a time of the maximum tears. With the chaotic, unplanned construction of the past, so many homes are at risk in the rains. Is it possible to carry out a multi-year survey of all structures at risk and reinforce them to prevent collapse?” Mumbai-based industrialist Anand Mahendra said in a tweet.
GNA