Two building crashes in Mumbai kill 13, 8 children among dead; contractor held
Mumbai: At least 12 people, including eight children, were killed and seven others injured after two floors of a three-storey residential building collapsed on an adjoining single-storey house in Malwani in suburban Mumbai, officials said on Thursday.
One person died in a separate incident of house crash at Dahisar, a western suburb of Mumbai, on Thursday evening, civic officials said.
Nine members of a family were among the deceased in the first incident which took place around 11.15 pm on Wednesday, when Mumbai experienced heavy rains throughout the day, at the New Collector Compound on Abdul Hamid Road in the Malwani area of suburban Malad, the officials said.
The ill-fated building was constructed illegally and had suffered damage in Cyclone Tauktae, which passed close to the Mumbai coast last month, police said, adding its contractor has been arrested on a culpable homicide charge.
The Maharashtra government announced an ex-gratia of Rs five lakh each to the kin of those who lost their lives in the house collapse at Malwani, while the Centre will give an additional Rs 2 lakh ex-gratia to them.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday expressed grief at the loss of lives in a building collapse in Mumbai and announced Rs 2 lakh ex-gratia each for the next of kin of the deceased from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund.
While earlier civic officials said a single-storey house had collapsed, they later clarified it was a three-storey building.
The second and third floors of the three-storey building collapsed on the adjoining single-storey house, said Santosh Dhonde, acting ward officer of the city's P-North ward.
Fire brigade and other agencies immediately rushed to the spot and started a search and rescue operation, the official from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.
Eight children and four adults, including a 60-year-old man, died, he said, adding that most of the deceased were from two families.
Seven others were injured and the condition of one of them was critical, he said. People rescued from under the debris were taken to nearby hospitals, he added.
The deceased have been identified as — Sahil Sarfaraz Sayyed (9), Arifa Sheikh (9), Shafiq Md Saleem Siddiqui (45), Tausif Shafiq Siddiqui (15), Aalisha Shafiq Siddiqui (10), Alfisa Shafiq Siddiqui (1.5 years), Afina Shafik Siddiqui (6), Ishrat Bano Shafiq Siddiqui (40), Rahisa Bano Rafik Siddiqui (40), Tahes Safik Siddiqui (12), John Irranna (13) and a 60-year-old man named only as Sardar.
Hemant Parab, Mumbai fire brigade chief, said they found the 12th body while clearing the debris in the evening and identified the victim only as Sardar.
The civic body said of the 12 people who died, nine were from a single family.
With agency inputs
