At least 21 die in collapsed building in Mumbai
Firefighters carry the body of a victim at the site of a collapsed building in Mumbai, August 31, 2017.
An 117-year-old condemned building collapsed in the Indian financial hub of Mumbai yesterday after two days of torrential rain, killing at least 21 people, with some feared trapped.
Thirteen people were rescued and were recovering in hospital, with six firemen also injured in the six-story building, the chief fire official said.
“There was a massive bang. We couldn’t see anything due to the dust and smoke. Once the dust settled, we realized it was a building collapse,” said area resident Amina Sheikh.
Disaster struck early in the morning as Mumbai was emerging from two days of heavy rain that flooded the city and killed 14 people.
The collapse was the second in Mumbai in a little over a month. In late July, 17 people were killed when a four-story building collapsed after suspected unauthorized renovations.
The building that collapsed yesterday in one of the most densely populated areas of the city housed a nursery school, despite being declared unsafe by the city’s municipal housing authority in 2011, and families were still living there.
Desperate relatives pleaded with rescuers to help find their loved ones after getting phone calls from trapped survivors. About 200 police and fire personnel sorted through the debris.
Police had yet to say what caused the collapse near Crawford market in south Mumbai’s old city.
