‘Tragedy struck my family after I left’

Tushar Ashok Pawar, 23, a resident of the Babu Genu new BMC building, is amongst those few lucky tenants, who survived the horrifying incident on Friday. Mr Pawar had left his home in the morning to go to work and minutes later, the building collapsed killing 12 persons and leaving several others injured. Mr Pawar lives with his father Ashok Govind Pawar, mother (name not known), sisters Neelam and Namita, who is eight-months pregnant, on the third floor of the building. Tushar, who is employed with an Andheri-based private firm, said, “I left home for office at around 5.15 am, and after a few minutes, I learnt about the tragedy that struck my family. A friend of mine in the opposite building informed me of the collapse and I rushed back home. When I had moved out in the morning, everyone was asleep. I had never thought something of this sort would happen,” Mr Pawar added, with damp eyes. He said that he went to JJ Hospital and other hospitals too, but could not get any information about his family members till evening. He further alleged that the civic and government officials have not shared the details of the victims with their respective families. Pawar’s family has not been traced yet and is believed to be trapped under the debris. His relatives were staying on the same floor of the building and a few of them have reportedly died in the incident.

Pregnant woman miraculously saved It was around 6 pm in the evening when Mr Pawar had his first sigh of relief on hearing that his eight-months pregnant sister Namita was miraculously rescued, unhurt, from the debris of the collapsed structure. She has sustained some injuries on her hand, and is now admitted to JJ Hospital. A relative of the Pawar family said that Namita had just come to her maternal home around a month ago, for celebrating of a ritual performed for pregnant women.