Mumbai: Three people died while nine others were injured after a four-storied building, which was an illegal structure, collapsed in Bhiwandi’s Navi Basti area on Friday.
The incident took place at around 8:30 in the morning when a majority of the families residing in the building were sound asleep.
The residents were alerted by the noise and vacated the building. More than 10 people were trapped inside the debris and were later rescued by two teams belonging to the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) by evening and rushed to the nearby Indira Gandhi Smruti Hospital (IGS).
According to the disaster management team, the deceased are Rukhasar Khan (18), Ashfaq Khan (38) and Jaiburnisa Ansari (61).
The injured are Rehan Khan (6), Asif Khan (21), Salma Ansari (55), Yukub Khan (58), Sabira Pathan (45), Imrana Khan (22), Khawaja Sayyed (55), Shakeel Ansari (37) and Khan Aabid Yakub (21). While three of the injured are at IGS hospital, the remaining were taken to the Thane Municipal hospital as they have serious injuries.
According to the rescue team, they were seriously handicapped in their operations by the lack of space. The collapsed building was located between two structures in a very congested format. Also, it was situated at a distance from the main road, making it difficult for the ambulances, fire engines and heavy machinery to make it inside. Mahesh Nalawade, Deputy Commandant, NDRF said, “It took time because there was no space for us. It was too congested so we couldn’t bring our machines in to remove the debris.”
When The Asian Age visited the spot, it found that the nearby structures too are in a bad state. The residents claim that the Bhiwandi-Nizampur City Municipal Corporation (BNCMC) would come to demolish the slums, but would turn a blind eye to the illegal structures in the area. “The building adjoining the collapsed structure also fell some months back. Thankfully, nobody was present so nothing happened. But now this one is a message to the corporation that they should stop illegal buildings,” said a resident.
